It is time for the press to do its job, and for House Republicans to do theirs; without attempts by the latter at deflection, delays, denials or meaningless denunciations because GOP proposals do not repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare.”
What we know so far, and what we deserve to know even more about, is that
the so-called House Freedom Caucus behaves more like a group that chooses to free itself of responsibility.
For all its talk about repealing – and replacing – Obamacare, for all its rhetoric about market efficiency and personal accountability, for all its symbolic votes and campaign pledges, for all its promises and slogans, the GOP stands guilty of the worst sort of buck-passing: It leaves state governors and legislators, most of whom already support (and authorized) Medicaid expansion, with the discretion to end the very policies the Freed Caucus claims to despise.
Does anyone think this action (or lack thereof) will erase a single page, a sole statute or a solitary line from existing law?
What kind of freedom is this?
What kind of “conservatives” would accept such a thing?
What kind of House leadership would promote such a thing?
If these politicians want to condemn the status quo, they should have the decency not to preserve it.