October 29th, 2014 If you listen to Republicans or news pundits these days, you will certainly hear the message that Republicans winning control of the Senate is the most consequential change that can happen in Washington. We already know that Obamacare is the most consequential issue of our time, and the GOP has repeatedly promised to repeal the law. But Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the man who would lead that GOP Senate majority, would like you to know that if he has his way, Obamacare is here to stay and Republicans won’t pursue repealing Obamacare in the next Congress. How’s that for bold leadership? However, there is just one problem. Senator Mitch McConnell from 2012 disagrees. Sure, McConnell lacked the fortitude to openly admit that Obamacare is immutable, but that is the upshot from his latest interview. On Tuesday, in an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, McConnell said that a GOP Senate lacks the ability to repeal Obamacare because Republicans will not have 60 Senate seats. “It would take 60 votes in the Senate. No one thinks we’re going to have 60 Republicans, and it would take a presidential signature,” McConnell said. “I’d like to put the Senate Democrats in the position of voting on the most unpopular parts of this law and see if we can put it on the president’s desk.” However, there is just one problem. Senator Mitch McConnell from 2012 disagrees. As the National Journal reported in 2012: The Chief Justice said its a tax. Taxes are clearly what we call reconcilable. Thats the kind of measure that can be pursued with 51 votes in the Senate, McConnell said. He went on to make a pitch to voters wary of the law to vote Republicans into the majority in both chambers this fall. If Im the leader of the majority next year, I commit to the American people that the repeal of Obamacare will be job one, he pledged. The dirty little secret is that Obamacare was passed using the budget process known as budget reconciliation and can be repealed using that same process. So which Mitch is it? Indeed, Senate Republicans can repeal Obamacare with a simple majority and slam it on Obama’s desk. The dirty little secret is that Obamacare was passed using the budget process known as budget reconciliation and can be repealed using that same process. That process is not subject to a filibuster and can pass with 51 votes. Garbage in, garbage out. Now that the promise has finally come due and America is poised to give McConnell what he has been asking for he has contracted a case of political fever. Pursuant to the Senate rules, they can pass new legislation, which is otherwise subject to a 60-vote threshold – through the budget process if the new bill affects changes in revenue or spending. Majority parties that lack 60 seats have used the budget process to pass numerous bills through budget reconciliation with a simple majority, including the 2001 Bush tax cuts and the original passage of Obamacare. As McConnell correctly noted in 2012, given that Obamacare has tax provisions, it can be repealed through that same process. Now, you might ask, won’t Obama still have the ability to veto the series of budget bills that contain the repeal? Yes, he can, but as McConnell 2012 rightfully notes, it’s the job of the opposition party in control of the Senate to slam bills onto Obama’s desk that are popular with the public. 60% of the public wants Obamacare repealed. Using the budget process to repeal Obamacare will afford him that opportunity. If this is all about messaging, isn’t a repeal of Obamacare at least as good as some of the perfunctory “good governance” bills Republicans desire to send to Obama? McConnell and his allies have no intent to ever repeal Obamacare. By fully repealing Obamacare in the budget resolution during the upcoming spring, Republicans will have 6 months to build the case and embarrass the president at a time when he will be forced to administratively repeal parts of the law anyway. And unlike with Harry Reid in charge, they will have the ability to slam 12 separate budget bills on Obama’s desk instead of rolling up funding for the entire government in one bill. Obama would have to veto all 12 bills and force a government shutdown all for the purpose of preserving the most unpopular law of our time. All the while pressure begins to build on Democrat senators up for re-election and those that plan to mount challenges to the many Republicans up for reelection in 2016. Is success a sure thing? Of course not. But why would anyone who truly wants to repeal Obamacare root and branch preemptively surrender this opportunity? Moreover, the notion that we will wait until 2017 to repeal this law with a GOP president is absurd if we can’t even mount a serious offensive with Republicans in control of both chambers in Congress. And GOP leaders know it. Furthermore, even if by some miracle a GOP Senate and president had the stomach to repeal it in 2017, they would still have to use this same budget process because they will absolutely not have anything close to 60 seats next term. Which is all to say, McConnell and his allies have no intent to ever repeal Obamacare. He clearly shares the view of the Chamber of Commerce that Obamacare should not be repealed, rather “tweaked” and “fixed” with technocratic solutions. Senate leaders are clearly only focused on those aspects of Obamacare most offensive to big business. If conservatives fail to sound the alarm bells, McConnell’s original plan to uproot Obamacare “root and branch” will morph into a polite pruning. And the century-long failure of Republicans to roll back harmful government policies will continue unabated – this time with the stakes higher than ever.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 04:57:39 +0000
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