Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner writes, “Obamacare is such a fundamental transformation of the American healthcare system, and its consequences for patients, providers, taxpayers, and the economy are so grave, that if this is not an issue that the Republicans are willing to lose their jobs over, what is?”
Alternatively, even if the president will never accept the repeal of his health-care law, a year’s delay might be a feasible compromise. After all, the president has already delayed the employer mandate and other portions of the law. There are considerable doubts as to whether other parts of the law, such as the exchanges, will be fully operational. A great many Democrats might welcome more time to work through some of those “glitches.”
At the very least, Republicans ought to try something. As Senator Lee told Fox News, “Maybe we can’t repeal [Obamacare] right now, but we can delay its funding. And if we can delay it, we can stop its consequences, at least for now.”
Whether that will happen remains to be seen. Asked if Republicans had the courage to fight for defunding, Rand Paul replied gloomily, “Honestly? Probably not.”
Oh well. Perhaps they do have the courage to pass a symbolic resolution to repeal the health-care law for the 40th time.
