No doubt you’ve all heard the news – the GOP House members took a deep breath and trod the first step down the path of destroying the ACA in order to replace it with their own structure (known as the AHCA). It’s worth looking at how they did it – much like the confirmation of Justice Gorsuch, IJ, literally hundreds of years of tradition were discarded in the effort, and this should concern American citizens regardless of their Party loyalties. Here’s Steve Benen on MaddowBlog on the process:
If House Republicans were scrambling to vote on a bill that overhauls the health care system before receiving a CBO score, that alone would be astonishing. But no one should lose sight of the fact that the Republicans’ American Health Care Act has also faced no meaningful scrutiny from lawmakers themselves: there have been no public hearings, no testimony from experts, and no public debate.
Adding insult to injury, the legislation that’s scheduled to receive a floor vote in about five hours wasn’t circulated to members yesterday or published online for Americans to review. Take a moment to consider why Republican leaders in the House wouldn’t want anyone – the media, industry experts, voters, or even their own GOP colleagues – to be able to read the legislation in advance.
It would not be unjustifiable to call this a secret law. But perhaps some readers will believe that amounts to ad hominem, since the law will eventually be examined … we hope.
So take a look at the facts, as enumerated by Steve. No evaluation by themselves or by the independent experts, the CBO, a fierce belief the American electorate wants this, when every poll disagrees, all of which translates to a terrible disconnect with reality. In another article, Steve argues that an obscure clause in the new law will result in potential negative changes – he uses the word “gutted” – even for those of us with employer-supplied insurance. Thus, every American citizen should consider this “GOP victory” and recognize it for what it really is – a ghastly misuse of the sacred offices of the legislature.
I do not use the word sacred easily, understand, but in the context of the American government, that’s how they should be considered. The occupants pass legislation which leads to laws, the laws by which we live. All due consideration should be given, much as the Democrats did for the ACA (which, you may or may not recall, was only passed after long debate over many months – not after an afternoon of debate over a document written up over a few nights). It is their task to sniff out the collateral damage of legislation – not pass it pell mell in hopes that a fool of a President will sign it and then pretend it’s better than what it’s replacing.
So, when I see this blatant disregard for good policy making, all in hopes of scoring political points, then this is what I’d like to see:
Every single legislator, regardless of party, regardless of this legislation’s ultimate fate, who voted for this with no chance to evaluate it, to see the CBO scoring, should be replaced. My prescription for those replacements? That they pledge to observe good citizenship when it comes to legislation, and that means due consideration for the public welfare. Republicans or Democrats, that’s what the replacements need to do.
And this should happen immediately, if possible, through recalls.
My Representative is Betty McCollum, and she didn’t vote for it. How about your’s? Did she or he just betray their responsibility?
Here’s the list of Reps and their votes from WaPo.
I suggest you look your Rep up. Maybe it’s time for you, dear reader, to consider leading a recall effort, or a replacement effort. I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, you owe it to your nation to give strong consideration to this effort, regardless of how you feel about the ACA. The disastrous way the House of Representatives is run calls for your deepest, most sober consideration of these suggestions.
