How nuts it the House GOP? This nuts.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows' wife is rallying North Carolina Republicans to sink Speaker Paul Ryan's Obamacare replacement bill, telling activists in an email that "Ryancare" "will be wrapped around Republican's necks."
In a Monday afternoon email, a copy of which was obtained by Politico, Debbie Meadows encouraged Republicans to call Ryan's office and the White House to protest the House plan.
"Please take just a few minutes to call right away," she wrote under a headline that read, "ATTENTION — IMPORTANT AND TIME SENSITIVE" in red letters. "In a nutshell, for reasons we cannot fathom, Republican leadership is putting forth a so-called Obamacare ‘repeal' that is not a repeal at all," she wrote.
"Leadership," she continued, "is selling it as a full repeal and has convinced many in the White House that it's terrific." But the plan, she argued, "will actually create a huge new government entitlement program and cost even more than Obamacare."
There are some true things here. It actually will cost more than Obamacare, because there won't be the taxes that the law put in place to help pay for it. It's also going to be "wrapped around Republican's necks." Because everything they do to undermine the existing law is going to be. They own it now.
Remember, these are the people that only heard "repeal and replace" out of popular vote loser Donald Trump's mouth Tuesday night, and really, all they heard was repeal. Straight across, nothing attached, everything gone repeal. Nothing less. They've already torpedoed Ryan's big plan to force a vote on them this week. What had been the one plan that leadership was going to make happen quickly became just a "draft" that was up for discussion when the maniacs reared their ugly heads.
Here's why it matters. As of now, with the resignation of Rep. Ryan Zinke who was just confirmed as Interior Secretary, Republicans can only afford to lose 19 votes and keep a 218 vote majority. There won't be Democratic votes for anything Ryan tries to do on Obamacare repeal. There are at least 5 of the maniacs who won't vote for anything that's not simple repeal. There are around 40 Freedom Caucus members who reject Ryan's idea of tax credits. Additionally, Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) who is chairman of the 172-member Republican Study Committee says he is opposed to the tax credits. This matters because the tax credit component is important to any argument Republicans might have that they are actually replacing the law.
Which means, yeah, seven years later Republicans are back at the drawing board on repeal and replace.
