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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn health care, the GOP literally doesnt know what its doing
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/health-care-the-gop-literally-doesnt-know-what-its-doing?cid=sm_fb_maddow
On health care, the GOP literally doesnt know what its doing
09/20/17 12:57 PMUpdated 09/20/17 01:19 PM
By Steve Benen
A Bloomberg News report noted in passing yesterday that Senate Republicans are gearing up to pass a sweeping health care overhaul, but theyre also still trying to figure out what its in the bill. It was practically the basis for an awkward joke: the GOP lawmakers who are ready to cast one of the most important votes of their careers are the same Republicans who have no idea what theyre voting on.
And I mean that quite literally. Vox asked nine GOP senators yesterday to explain why Graham-Cassidy is a worthwhile proposal, and not one of them could come up with a good answer. Asked how the health care system would be better under this proposal, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) replied, Look, were in the back seat of a convertible being driven by Thelma and Louise, and were headed toward the canyon
. So we have to get out of the car, and you have to have a car to get into, and this is the only car there is.
Axios reported this morning that Republicans have adopted a Repeal first, ask questions later posture.
I am just in shock how no one actually cares about the policy any more, one GOP lobbyist told {Axios Caitlin Owens}.
A senior GOP aide added, If there was an oral exam on the contents of the proposal, graded on a generous curve, only two Republicans could pass it. And one of them isnt Lindsey Graham.
Graham, of course, is one of the ostensible co-authors of the Graham-Cassidy plan thats likely to get a vote next week. (At his bills unveiling, Bill Cassidy referenced actuarial values. Graham, demonstrating his interest in policy details, told reporters, Ive had to listen to this crap for two months.)
Health care policymaking is difficult and requires policymakers to consider all kinds of complex variables and trade-offs. The consequences of the decisions couldnt be more important: not only are we talking about matters of life and death for millions of Americans, but this is also one-sixth of the worlds largest economy at stake. This is no place for casually approving radical changes.
But Republicans, proving my post-policy thesis in ways even I find terrifying, dont seem to care about any of the details or how they might affect American families. GOP lawmakers arent just getting the substance wrong; theyre also lazy.
These officials are paid quite a bit of money to do an important job shaping federal policy for the planets most dominant superpower and by all appearances, Congress Republican majority doesnt feel like doing that job responsibly. Someone will put a bill in front of them, call it repeal and replace, share a few bumper-sticker slogans, and theyll vote aye without a whole lot of thought.
If tens of millions of Americans are punished in the process, so be it. Their goal is to check a box, not to protect your interests.
I made the case yesterday that the public has no idea why Republicans support this regressive approach to health care, but as GOP lawmakers are helping prove, Republicans themselves have no idea, either.
What matters most, of course, are the outcomes for the public, but before Americans feel the brunt of the GOPs policymaking, consider what this dynamic means for the process in the institution that was once known as The Worlds Most Deliberative Body. Senate Democrats could (and likely will) make a clear and convincing case against Graham-Cassidy to their Republican counterparts, explaining why its an awful plan that would cause widespread suffering if it were implemented. Whats more, those Democratic arguments would be rooted in fact, evidence, and reason.
But the asymmetry between the parties suggests it wouldnt make any difference. Because for many Republicans, whether a bill is sound on the merits is far less important than whether its a Republican bill. Theres no meaningful connection between the value of an idea and GOP lawmakers willingness to support it.
Policymaking in the United States cant, and wont, work this way. History will be merciless.
dogman
(6,073 posts)They are following their principles, or actually their lack of. History didn't stop the Pharaohs, we just have to hope enough of our own survive to rob their graves.
spanone
(135,791 posts)money is drying up
they DON'T care about the policy.
it's only about winning.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)The beleaguered wealthiest need a tax cut.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)elleng
(130,732 posts)Naturally.
BigmanPigman
(51,567 posts)it was written at lunch and on 8 pieces of paper! And this new Hellcare bill is even worse than that one!!!
Daninmo
(119 posts)we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,
RDANGELO
(3,432 posts)They are more afraid of the base not turning out then the political implications from denying millions of people from health care. The base has been manipulated into despising Obama Care, so now they will accept nothing less.