Dem
49
GOP
51
Speaking of politically unwise maneuvers, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)—who has yet to impress us with his political acumen—uncorked something... interesting yesterday. Speaking before a Republican crowd in Pennsylvania, he declared: "Health care reform's going to be a big part of the agenda. When I say we're going to have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we got a lot of things still on the table." And just in case anyone missed his meaning, he added: "No Obamacare. The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that."
To start with, we do not believe for a minute that Johnson actually has a plan to replace the ACA. It's possible he might have concepts of a plan, but that's it. And to the extent that he does have thoughts as to what he wants to do, invariably they involve reduced government involvement in the healthcare system. And that, in turn, means poor people losing their insurance. We continue to be amazed that this man looks in the mirror every morning and sees a devout Christian. We are hardly theologians, of course, but can there really be ANY doubt what side Yeshuah ben Yosef would come down on here?
On top of that, even if Johnson does have a plan, or the fragments of a plan, or whatever, his "vision" assumes: (1) Republican control of the House, (2) Republican control of the Senate, (3) Republican control of the White House, (4) Buy-in from nearly every Republican in both chambers. That's a lot of assumptions; the trifecta is a big ask, and then getting all the Republicans, including the moderates, to take people's insurance away is an even bigger ask. It's also possible that Johnson's thinking (his fantasy?) involves getting rid of the Senate filibuster. If so, good luck with that; we already know Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is a no vote among the Republicans. Probably Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), too. (That said, it would be possible to substantially shred the ACA through budget reconciliation, by ending federal subsidies, so maybe the filibuster is not on the table.)
The point is that this is the most vapory of political vaporware we've seen in a long time. And in bringing up something that is almost certainly not going to happen, Johnson has threatened a program that has allowed more than 50 million Americans to get health insurance. Maybe he was playing to a right-wing/libertarian audience, but from where we sit, it seems like his list of political bugaboos is about 10 years out of date, and that he came dangerously close to assaulting what is now a sacred cow of American politics. (Z)