It is no secret that Republicans in Congress have fallen short of the mandate American voters gave them at the polls last November. If they had lived up to expectations, Loretta Lynch, who has been described aptly as Eric Holder in a skirt, would never have been confirmed as U.S. attorney general.
Now, the party in control of the legislative branch is at another crossroads, and it appears to be on the verge of another concession to the Obama administration. From The Hill:
House conservatives are hinting at support for a temporary extension of Obama-Care subsidies if the Supreme Court cripples the law, even as they set up a working group to develop their own plan.
The high court is set to rule later this month in the case of King v. Burwell, which could invalidate subsidies for millions of people in at least 34 states using the federally run marketplace. Republicans say they need to be ready to address people losing their coverage, but have yet to coalesce around a plan.
If SCOTUS rules that the plain language of the Affordable Care Act — which gives states the choice either to set up such exchanges themselves or stay out of the program — is not open to loose interpretation, an estimated 6.4 million Americans would lose their subsidies. This outcome could be calamitous not only to the nation, which is already in the throes of a health care crisis, but to the GOP, which would be painted by critics as heartless.
That would seem to be the motivation behind the actions of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which is looking at remedies somewhat akin to ideas advanced previously by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who is quoted as saying, “There’s still a lot of people who, their only solution is full repeal,” adding, “It’s not so simple anymore.”
Much as it grieves me to say it, he and the Freedom Caucus may be on to something.
