You know the OFA folks, doing their Master’s bidding, were really hoping attract a huge groundswell of popular anger at the “Tea-publicans” about the government shut down.
After a weekend in which thousands of truckers, bikers and vets showed up in Washington DC to protest the #SpiteHouse #ShutDownTheater, you can see where the real passion lies – and it doesn’t need to be “community organized”.
After this man (who told reporters that his name is Brett Shelley, that his sign is a joke, and that that he’s a lead engineer with a Veterans Affairs health project) appeared, the OFA protesters left the steps and headed to the lawn.
His sign says, “Just Default! I’ve got military experience, guns at home, and a meat grinder. I’ll be fine.”
The man told reporters his name is Brett Shelley, and he claimed to be a lead engineer with a Veterans Affairs health project. After he appeared, the OFA members skedaddled off the Capitol steps and headed for the lawn, according Woodruff:
“I don’t know what happened, man,” Shelley told reporters with a laugh after the OFA rally abandoned him on the Capitol steps. “Why they running away from me?”
With Obama and Reid seemingly hell-bent on forcing Republicans into choosing default, tempers are flaring.
Rep Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee was interviewed by Fox News, this morning following the president’s outright rejection to the latest House plan which mirrored the Senate plan except for it repealed the medical device tax for two years, beefed up income verification requirements, and included the Vitter Amendment which cancels health-insurance subsidies for members of Congress, the president, vice president . Issa said, “If the President thinks so well of Obamacare and the Vice President thinks so well of Obamacare he should be in it,” Rep. Darrell Issa said.
“For sebelius not to be in Obamacare and not feel the pain of its complete and total failure to perform at the scheduled levels is a good example where…it might very well be good for them to be in the affordable Care Act and find out that when you go online you can’t get online.”
Joel Pollak at Big Government argues that “if Republicans give in now, they will never recover, and neither will the House of Representatives–not for a generation, perhaps.”
Republicans have nowhere else to go. They have nothing left to offer the Democrats, who are getting all they wanted–and more, winning an Obamacare modification that benefits their union allies. Republicans have no more room to fall in the polls, either. They will not win favor by giving in–if anything, they may cause their voters to abandon them. They don’t even have their own pride any more. They have nothing left to lose.
If the Senate proposal passes the House, it will have to do so with Democratic votes. Republican leaders may think they have exercised their economic responsibility, but they will have abdicated their political duty, and they will have given up on their voters and their constitutional prerogative. The only way to sustain political opposition and the separation of powers will be default. The only leverage left may be to walk away.
House Republicans don’t have the power to stop Obamacare. But they do have the power to investigate it.
Recent weeks have seen the meltdown of the Obamacare national online marketplace, reported to have cost between $400 million and $600 million so far. There are also indications the administration knew serious problems were coming and hid them from lawmakers who have a responsibility to oversee the program.
The episode has prompted a lot of questions on Capitol Hill. Just how many people have tried to purchase coverage on the exchanges? How many have succeeded? Is the level of interest sufficient for Obamacare to reach its goal of seven million enrollees? Why is the administration being so secretive about it?
Also, what about the security of Americans’ confidential health and financial information? Does the struggling system have adequate protections for that?
And once the administration finally gets its website working, will millions of Americans experience sticker shock, discovering that they will have to pay higher premiums and deductibles for coverage? What were the administration’s in-house estimates on that?
***
…Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, are seeking answers from the administration. In a letter to Sebelius on Thursday, the lawmakers demanded a wide range of information from HHS, “for us to better determine whether any corrective legislative actions are necessary.”
The number of Obamacare investigations on Capitol Hill is likely to grow in coming weeks. There’s no denying the probes will have a political element, as Republican chairmen in the House lead the charge. And if Obamacare’s problems continue, and perhaps expand, the situation could be politically advantageous for the GOP. No one should be surprised if a White House on the defensive accuses Republicans of playing politics.
Nice Deb 