When the Koch network of several hundred donors convened in January, just after the 2016 Republican sweep, times were heady and they eagerly awaited full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. But when they gathered in Colorado Springs last weekend to take stock of where they are, their optimism for full repeal had dimmed considerably, writes the Washington Post.
“Perhaps we were naïve in thinking a full repeal vote would happen,” [Tim] Phillips said Sunday. “This has been humbling for us."
Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, went on to say that they hoped to make the Senate bill "better," as in closer to an actual repeal of Obamacare rather than window dressing that doesn't actually repeal, replace—or fix, for that matter—the ACA.
Phillips’ comments were actually made before Mitch McConnell's bill was neutered by the CBO score and subsequently pulled from a vote, which makes Phillips’ next observation even more acute:
“We believe we have a window of about 12 months to get as much done as possible before the midterms become all consuming,” he told a room full about 400 donors.
The Kochs never actually backed Trump, but at the very least they reveled in having an assured signature on all the legislation the GOP-led Congress would be passing. Marc Short, former political director for the Koch network, is now Trump's legislative affairs director at the White House.
But with Trump’s self-inflicted wounds and persistent GOP infighting in the capital, the financiers assembled at the Broadmoor resort on Cheyenne Mountain are also being forced to reckon with the possibility that golden opportunities to overhaul the tax code and repeal Obamacare are being squandered.
They are also likely underestimating how soon the midterms will become "all consuming." By spring of next year, reelection will already be clouding every decision of most lawmakers on the Hill. Electoral pressure rarely smooths the path for difficult legislation. Tick tock, tick tock.