There’s not much to add on the successful vote yesterday to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the House of Representatives. The vote totals aren’t really news, aside from perhaps the five Democrats who joined up with every single House Republican to vote down the now officially-constitutional law. It is difficult to disagree with Rep. Tom Harkin (D-IA) told our own Andrea Mitchell today, the whole thing is “sheer political theater; it’s wasting a lot of time and it’s scaring a lot of people.”
Republicans’ argument, per Politico, is that now that the Supreme Court has upheld health insurance reform, it’s still a “bad law.” Whatever rhetorical flashes they choose to shine in front of the American political retina, the fact remains that this was the 33rd time they’ve staged a futile vote in order to “symbolically” repeal the ACA. Futile, of course, because the majority-Democratic Senate would never pass it, and even if they did, President Obama would never sign it.
So why do they continue doing it, while asserting they’re all about “jobs, jobs, jobs”? Perhaps they don’t think we’ll notice.
Our guest this past weekend, Ari Melber of The Nation, put up a post and graph on Wednesday that summed it all up: they’ve taken all these meaningless repeal votes, but haven’t bothered to vote on one jobs bill. More on what that signifies: But still, asking whether Republicans look good by attacking healthcare again is the wrong question. By stoking another healthcare debate, even for a failed vote after a court loss, they are distracting people from the relentless GOP obstruction on economic recovery. And if there’s no jobs plan, of course, it’s easier for their nominee to keep asking where the jobs are. Nothing to add.
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