Campaign Action
Last Friday, as Senate Republicans slunk away from Washington for a 10-day break, an old discarded idea resurfaced, thrilling the House Freedom maniacs, giving Sen. Rand Paul lots of air time, reminding everyone that Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) exists, and distracting popular vote loser Donald Trump (for a few hours) arose: just repeal Obamacare and deal with replacing later.
Aside from the maniacs and Trump, however, it didn't generate much enthusiasm. It also didn't get a response from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He did, however, send out surrogates to dismiss it.
"For better or worse, that ship has sailed," the strategist familiar with McConnell's thinking said.
A repeal-first strategy was considered and rejected by GOP leaders and Trump himself early this year. Among other things, returning to it now would probably preclude action on tax reform until 2019.
That's because repealing Obamacare could only be done using expedited, filibuster-proof "reconciliation" budget procedures. Such a repeal would, in turn, ensure Democrats would not cooperate on a replacement bill, forcing Republicans to use those same procedures again for their replacement.
Odds are against success even then, since "repeal becomes a huge tax-and-spending bill," the strategist said. And because budget laws make those procedures available just twice this year, the GOP's planned tax bill couldn't use them, which almost certainly means "giving up on tax reform until after mid-term elections."
There's also the fact that it's pretty much just the maniacs and Trump who actually like the idea at this point. Now that they have the power to actually take health insurance away from millions, it's not nearly as attractive an idea as it was when it was just a campaign promise a presidential veto was always there to prevent.
Most Republicans, particularly those in the Senate, are realists enough to know that ripping Obamacare away now with just a promise of a replacement plan (and how many times have we heard that one before?) is political suicide. Trump, Republicans, Trumpcare—they're all in the toilet in the polls, while Obamacare is more popular now than ever. They have to at least look like they're trying to do something responsible with it.
Trumpcare is a nightmare. Millions would lose their health insurance, rates will go up for women & people with disabilities and it ends Medicaid as we know it. Call your Republican senator at (202) 224-3121 and give them a very angry piece of your mind. Then, tell us how it went.