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Trump proves to be an unreliable ally
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Pelle Svanslos
Jul 2, 2017, 7:43:00 AM7/2/17
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President Trump is more than his own worst enemy. The damage he has
inflicted during his first five months in office has undermined
Republican congressional leaders, frustrated members of his Cabinet,
exasperated top advisers and strained relations with some of the
nation’s most important allies. This week’s case study is health care.
The most significant domestic initiative of the Trump presidency and the
Republican Party is the fulfillment of a promise to “repeal and replace”
the Affordable Care Act. That Republicans are struggling to find an
alternative to Obamacare is plain to see. But as congressional leaders
scratch to find the votes to pass a bill in the Senate, the president
has demonstrated that he is an unreliable partner in the battle.
On Friday morning, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was
trying to balance potentially irreconcilable demands of hard-line
conservatives and more moderate conservatives, the president decided to
offer his own solution with a tweet: If the Senate can’t get there, why
not just repeal now and replace sometime in the future?
Never mind that earlier in the year, he took the opposite position. At
that time, McConnell and some others preferred to move with an immediate
repeal vote that included a trigger for implementation sometime in the
future, giving elected officials the ability to say they kept a promise
and enough time to try to find a replacement. But the president overrode
that idea, demanding that replacement had to accompany repeal.
Now, at the worst possible moment, Trump seemed to have shifted again,
leaving Senate lawmakers frustrated and baffled.
The idea of going to repeal now, replace later was not originally the
president’s. His tweet came minutes after Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) made a
similar statement on “Fox and Friends.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a
holdout, has been saying the same thing.
The president appears to have no commitment to an explicit strategy for
getting a health-care bill to his desk, only a desire for victory and
limited patience for the legislative process. He also has no fixed views
on the substance of health-care reform, having made contradictory
statements about the topic throughout his campaign and since.
He has said he wants a health-care system with heart, one in which
everyone is covered. But he embraces legislation that would leave 22 to
23 million additional Americans without coverage by 2026, according to
the Congressional Budget Office. When the House passed its health-care
bill in May, he showered it and GOP leaders with praise. Later he called
the measure “mean.” He campaigned against cuts in entitlements —
Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The congressional legislation
would revamp Medicaid, significantly slowing the growth in spending.
The president’s suggestion to repeal now and replace later begs the
larger question for Republicans. GOP lawmakers have spent years
campaigning against Obamacare, and over the past months, in both houses
of Congress, hours and hours of granular discussions have been held.
The problem is not one of needing more time to come up with a perfect
solution. It is the question of whether Republicans are prepared to
stand behind their criticisms of Obamacare and the political
consequences that could come with significantly revising it.
Republican elected officials have campaigned as the party of smaller
government, lower taxes and less federal spending. The result of that
appears to be a health-care bill that would knock millions and millions
off the coverage rolls, including many lower-income Americans now on
Medicaid. To date, the outlines of that solution have found little
support from the public.
McConnell will plunge ahead with a repeal-and-replace effort, despite
the president’s interjection. Republicans now have a choice. Either they
support that kind of package or they don’t. They can’t look to the
president on this: He has provided limited help and little political
cover. If anything, he’s made their task even more difficult as the past
week showed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-proves-to-be-an-unreliable-ally-to-republicans-in-the-health-care-fight/2017/07/01/907ca906-5dd4-11e7-9fc6-c7ef4bc58d13_story.html?utm_term=.55debd484475
Once an Apprentice, always an Apprentice.
inflicted during his first five months in office has undermined
Republican congressional leaders, frustrated members of his Cabinet,
exasperated top advisers and strained relations with some of the
nation’s most important allies. This week’s case study is health care.
The most significant domestic initiative of the Trump presidency and the
Republican Party is the fulfillment of a promise to “repeal and replace”
the Affordable Care Act. That Republicans are struggling to find an
alternative to Obamacare is plain to see. But as congressional leaders
scratch to find the votes to pass a bill in the Senate, the president
has demonstrated that he is an unreliable partner in the battle.
On Friday morning, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was
trying to balance potentially irreconcilable demands of hard-line
conservatives and more moderate conservatives, the president decided to
offer his own solution with a tweet: If the Senate can’t get there, why
not just repeal now and replace sometime in the future?
Never mind that earlier in the year, he took the opposite position. At
that time, McConnell and some others preferred to move with an immediate
repeal vote that included a trigger for implementation sometime in the
future, giving elected officials the ability to say they kept a promise
and enough time to try to find a replacement. But the president overrode
that idea, demanding that replacement had to accompany repeal.
Now, at the worst possible moment, Trump seemed to have shifted again,
leaving Senate lawmakers frustrated and baffled.
The idea of going to repeal now, replace later was not originally the
president’s. His tweet came minutes after Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) made a
similar statement on “Fox and Friends.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a
holdout, has been saying the same thing.
The president appears to have no commitment to an explicit strategy for
getting a health-care bill to his desk, only a desire for victory and
limited patience for the legislative process. He also has no fixed views
on the substance of health-care reform, having made contradictory
statements about the topic throughout his campaign and since.
He has said he wants a health-care system with heart, one in which
everyone is covered. But he embraces legislation that would leave 22 to
23 million additional Americans without coverage by 2026, according to
the Congressional Budget Office. When the House passed its health-care
bill in May, he showered it and GOP leaders with praise. Later he called
the measure “mean.” He campaigned against cuts in entitlements —
Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The congressional legislation
would revamp Medicaid, significantly slowing the growth in spending.
The president’s suggestion to repeal now and replace later begs the
larger question for Republicans. GOP lawmakers have spent years
campaigning against Obamacare, and over the past months, in both houses
of Congress, hours and hours of granular discussions have been held.
The problem is not one of needing more time to come up with a perfect
solution. It is the question of whether Republicans are prepared to
stand behind their criticisms of Obamacare and the political
consequences that could come with significantly revising it.
Republican elected officials have campaigned as the party of smaller
government, lower taxes and less federal spending. The result of that
appears to be a health-care bill that would knock millions and millions
off the coverage rolls, including many lower-income Americans now on
Medicaid. To date, the outlines of that solution have found little
support from the public.
McConnell will plunge ahead with a repeal-and-replace effort, despite
the president’s interjection. Republicans now have a choice. Either they
support that kind of package or they don’t. They can’t look to the
president on this: He has provided limited help and little political
cover. If anything, he’s made their task even more difficult as the past
week showed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-proves-to-be-an-unreliable-ally-to-republicans-in-the-health-care-fight/2017/07/01/907ca906-5dd4-11e7-9fc6-c7ef4bc58d13_story.html?utm_term=.55debd484475
Once an Apprentice, always an Apprentice.
Guypers
Jul 2, 2017, 8:41:37 AM7/2/17
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calim...@gmx.de
Jul 2, 2017, 1:10:31 PM7/2/17
to
Really ..... ?
Looooooool!!!!!!!!
Max
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