This is exactly what we elected the Tea Party to do

[corbe]

This is exactly what we elected the Tea Party to do
March 24, 2017 5:49 pm 
Rare POV
 
What’s all this empty nonsense about the Tea Party being dead? Actually, I’ve weighed calling in the mortician several times myself, given how indifferent Donald Trump is towards the size of the federal government and how determined he is to repeal sequestration budget caps, the Tea Party’s sole policy accomplishment. Maybe “dead” is too strong a word, but surely on life support with its vitals growing ever weaker.

Well, no more. The destruction of the noxious American Health Care Act (AHCA) was from start to finish a production of Tea Party legislators in the House Freedom Caucus and the Senate. Even better, they pulled it off while placing themselves solely in the mainstream of American politics. Have we yet located a single homo sapien outside Congress and the insurance companies who ardently supports the AHCA? Grassroots conservatives are against it so strongly that Donald Trump’s approval rating has taken a beating among his base. The Heritage Foundation is opposed, as is the Club for Growth. Cross the aisle and Democrats have linked arms—hypocrites, every one, given how stridently they derided rigid Republican opposition to Obamacare, but worth noting. The public disapproves 56 percent to 17 percent, a gobsmacking margin typically reserved for Robert Mugabe and avian flu.

Sneer all you like about how “far right” and “archconservative” the Freedom Caucus is, but for a glorious fleeting moment, they were all of us. Their analysis, that the AHCA would do little to drive down premiums and much to strand Medicaid holders without affordable alternatives, was shared by the soberest health analysts. This was bad policy, cooked up by an off-its-game GOP that seemed genuinely shocked that it was now expected to deliver on those hundreds of millions of Obamacare repeals it passed in the off-season. The Freedom Caucus has long understood that killing Frankenstein laws is just as important, if not more so, as passing good ones. Right now, who among us would disagree?

 This is exactly what we elected the Tea Party to do. Though easily forgotten, the protests of 2009 and 2010 weren’t solely or even chiefly directed at Barack Obama. Their more immediate goal was to replace a Republican establishment that had given them two presidential terms of comprehensive policy failure, interminable wars and big-government lab experiments. Maybe they didn’t succeed at that, but they did elect a congressional bloc formidable enough to make the difference.

And their greater critique has been vindicated, has it not? The Tea Party line has always been that elite Republicans would rather spend than cut, posture than fight, apply concealer to the bureaucracy rather than roll it back. The milquetoast and cosmetic AHCA proved them entirely correct.

So now the political fallout is landing. Donald Trump, in keeping with his skepticism of all things East Asian, has let it be known that Paul Ryan doesn’t have to commit seppuku, but he has to be furious. The speaker foisted on him a bill he didn’t understand and promised him votes that never materialized. Ryan, meanwhile, will scarcely sleep tonight, having fouled up not only his first major reform package as speaker but an issue that’s long been cardinal for him. His best hope will be to rack up a couple wins—say, tax reform and regulatory reform—that realign him with Trump and reestablish his competence, while gradually persuading Trump that Obamacare repeal can be done again, and properly this time.

Pay much attention to the man behind the curtain. Right on cue Friday morning, Steve Bannon let it be known to Gabriel Sherman that the AHCA “doesn’t drive down costs” and was “written by the insurance industry.”

<..snip..>

http://rare.us/rare-politics/issues/obamacare-rare-politics/this-is-exactly-what-we-elected-the-tea-party-to-do/

[r9etb]

This is exactly what we elected the Tea Party to do

So... after reading through all of this, I still have no sense of whether the Freedom Caucus actually attempted to influence the creation of the bill that ultimately failed.

Do they see their role mainly as standing in opposition to bills they don't like, or are they actually involved in creating legislation?

I'm genuinely curious on this point.

[Taxcontrol]

The bill to repeal Obamacare has already been created and it has already passed both the house and the senate.  Did so more than once. Those bills could be and SHOULD be dusted off and sent to President Trump's desk for signature.

[Silver Pines]

So... after reading through all of this, I still have no sense of whether the Freedom Caucus actually attempted to influence the creation of the bill that ultimately failed.

Do they see their role mainly as standing in opposition to bills they don't like, or are they actually involved in creating legislation?

I'm genuinely curious on this point.

@r9tb

Earlier I posted a fairly lengthy article from Politico which was linked on Ben Shapiro's Twitter timeline.  It describes the Freedom Caucus's involvement.

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,255524.0.html

[Rivergirl]

We supported and defended the Tea Party and then many of those same people voted for DT in the primaries.  They abandoned their entire reason to be.

[r9etb]

@r9tb

Earlier I posted a fairly lengthy article from Politico which was linked on Ben Shapiro's Twitter timeline.  It describes the Freedom Caucus's involvement.

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,255524.0.html

I hadn't seen that.  Thanks!

[geronl]

So... after reading through all of this, I still have no sense of whether the Freedom Caucus actually attempted to influence the creation of the bill that ultimately failed.

Their attempts were ignored. Ryan and Trump have no time for conservatives.

[Cripplecreek]

We supported and defended the Tea Party and then many of those same people voted for DT in the primaries.  They abandoned their entire reason to be.

That's why the tea party has effectively ceased to be.

Oh I'm sure the Tea Party Express is still using TOS as a cow to be milked for money but even they will eventually fade away.

[Doug Loss]

The bill to repeal Obamacare has already been created and it has already passed both the house and the senate.  Did so more than once. Those bills could be and SHOULD be dusted off and sent to President Trump's desk for signature.

It has been.  Congressman Jim Jordan from Ohio introduced H.R. 1436 on March 8, two days after AHCA was introduced.  H.R. 1436 is a replica of the bill that passed the House and Senate in 2015.  It's been languishing in committee ever since.  I emailed my congressman, Jimmy Duncan, today urging him to support a discharge petition to force the bill to the House floor for debate.  I urge you all to do the same thing, contacting your congressmen and trying to persuade them to get this bill into consideration.

[Sanguine]

It has been.  Congressman Jim Jordan from Ohio introduced H.R. 1436 on March 8, two days after AHCA was introduced.  H.R. 1436 is a replica of the bill that passed the House and Senate in 2015.  It's been languishing in committee ever since.  I emailed my congressman, Jimmy Duncan, today urging him to support a discharge petition to force the bill to the House floor for debate.  I urge you all to do the same thing, contacting your congressmen and trying to persuade them to get this bill into consideration.

Yes, good advice.