Senate GOP Backing Plan To Extend ObamaCare Subsidies

by JASmius



C'mon, my Tea Party compatriots, you knew this was inevitable.  If the SCOTUS manages to be sufficiently literate to actually read what Original ObamaCare actually says about subsidies only being provided for Regime-approved health insurance policies coercively purchased through "State [cartels]," and declares for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell next month - which I don't think they will any more than they struck down the Individual Mandate three years ago, and for the same damn reason - we all know what the Islamocommumedia Complex caterwaul will be: "Rightwing Republican extremist Supreme Court viciously takes away Americans' health care".  And the rabid leftwingnut jihad will be on.

Now of course WE say, "bring....it....on".  Of course WE say "ObamaCare is still hugely unpopular, so the American people will be on our side" (which I don't think they would be once the leftwingnut howling reached full-throated volume).  But elected Republicans, while elected by us, are, by and large, NOT us.  And they do have to take the entire electorate into account, not just their own base, if they want to retain the unified congressional majority they only so recently regained.  That's simply how their mindset - and political reality - works.

Of course, WE say that they have to take their base into account first if they want to retain the unified congressional majority they only so recently regained.  But who listens to US anymore?

But in this case, the castor oil is intended to be bipartisan:

In preparation for a decision by the Supreme Court to strike down ObamaCare subsidies, a number of Senate Republicans are backing a plan that would temporarily restore them for current enrollees.

According to Politico, thirty-one senators have signed onto a bill authored by Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson that would extend the subsidies through September 2017 but, at the same time, repeal ObamaCare's Individual and Employer Mandates and insurance coverage requirements.

"In that moment of what could be political chaos, we're offering such a reasonable proposal that solves a mess," Johnson said, according to Politico. "It fixes a mess caused by a sloppily written law, unlawfully implemented. All we're asking for is a little bit of freedom back, which would be, I think, pretty popular."

The measure has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP leadership, as well as a number of lawmakers who are facing tough re-elections.

But Johnson's plan is unlikely to gain support from the White House or Senate Democrats. [emphasis added]

So whaddaya think, TPers?  Is the gutting of ObamaCare worth a couple of years' subsidies?  Sounds like a helluva bargain to me.

Of course, as you're doubtless already retorting, congressional Republicans would never have the cajones to go to the mat with Barack Obama on this (and he's already guaranteed a veto, which means it would never get past the inevitable Senate Democrat filibuster), and would instead cave and pass a "clean" subsidies extension bill instead, or even retroactively amend ObamaCare to extend subsidies to policies obtained through healthcare.gov.

And you're probably right.

But it is inevitable, and you shouldn't have expected anything else.

Exit question: Isn't it a relief that Chief Justice Roberts or Justice Kennedy will come to Senate Republicans' rescue once again?