This story reminds one of the Reagan quip about government: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it." Obamacare, or at least the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies, is at that ultimate point. Perhaps, though, not for much longer. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-4) has now said there will be no vote extending Obamacare subsidies, preferring instead to focus the House on a new Republican-sponsored healthcare package.
The Speaker's decision is not without its critics, as you might expect.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said there will not be an amendment vote on extending expiring ObamaCare enhanced subsidies as part of a House Republican health care bill this week, in a move that is infuriating moderate Republicans who had been pushing to go on the record about the subsidies.
Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday that about a dozen Republican members in competitive districts are “fighting hard to make sure that they reduce costs for all of their constituents.”
“Many of them did want to vote on this ObamaCare COVID-era subsidy the Democrats created,” Johnson said. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be.”
Reducing costs by extending what was supposed to be a temporary subsidy doesn't seem like a good way to sell fiscal responsibility.
Did I mention that the subsidy was temporary?
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), one of the members who had been pushing for a vote to extend the subsidies that expire Dec. 31, fumed at the decision as he emerged from a House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning.
“I think it’s idiotic not to have an up-or-down vote on this issue,” Lawler said, adding: “It is political malpractice.”
Extending a politically-motivated and temporary subsidy on a healthcare package that is failing already, one could argue, is likewise political malpractice.
The House GOP is already working on a replacement, or at least, a fix; details are still being worked out. One thing we do know is that there had better be assurances that illegal aliens won't be covered, which will doubtless cause consternation for California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is looking forward to the 2028 presidential election. He's been caught out on this issue once already:
Repeal and replace has been the Republican mantra for Obamacare for some time now, and while I'd rather see just "repeal" and have the federal government cease and desist its almost-certainly unconstitutional meddling in the provision and financing of healthcare, it seems I can't have that. That being the case, whatever the House GOP cooks up has to be better than a package passed in the dark of night under the Speakership of Nancy Pelosi, who piously intoned that they had to pass the bill to find out what was in it.
Read More: Republicans Unveil Obamacare Alternative As Subsidy Deadline Looms
This subsidy was intended to be temporary. Temporary, as in, "for a fixed time span, after which it no longer is a drain on the taxpayers." It's costing the taxpayers money every moment it's in place. Enough is enough; Speaker Johnson is right to let this thing die, and to focus instead on, at least, fixing the things in healthcare provision that the Democrats broke.
Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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