#SomethingTerrific | #WhatTheyVotedFor
(sigh) This feels familiar:
Here we go again. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) say their proposals for repealing and “replacing” the Affordable Care Act will be ready really, really soon. Next month, in fact.
And they swear this won’t be like the other million times Republicans have made the same promise and failed to follow through.
Trump and Ryan made their comments at separate news conferences on Thursday, a few hours apart. Ryan’s came after a closed-door House meeting in which he and his lieutenants presented the broad brushstrokes―again―of what they are calling a “repeal plus” strategy.
So, a couple things go here. Like a personal note: This was disappointing. When the first chyrons broke, it seemed at least as if everyone was gearing up to finally have it out about the mythical Republican plan. And for at least a few minutes, readers and pundits tried to pretend they were. But that leads to the second, which might have something to do with Congressional Republican leadership, because apparently “repeal plus”, the replacement for “repeal and delay”, which was the longer, lazier route compared to prior advocacy for “repeal and replace”―and we keep getting signs this approach isn’t working―is probably a better name than “repeal and stumble around”.
Furthermore, it is a week later, and it seems the punditry is still speculating about what this plan will be after former Speaker Boehner fanned the flames yesterday.
As mysteries go, not even a talking dog would be able to help Republicans find a health care policy. Marketing and promoting a product generally requires having a product in the first place.
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Image note: Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters.
Tahir, Darius. “Boehner: Republicans won’t repeal and replace Obamacare “. Politico. 23 February 2017.
Young, Jeffrey and Jonathan Cohn. “The Obamacare Replacement Is Coming, Trump And Ryan Swear. No, Really”. The Huffington Post. 16 February 2017.
This Is 