Sandra doesn’t believe the Republicans would really repeal Obamacare. How could they, she asks rhetorically, with so many Americans already benefiting from it?
But I’m sure the new Republican Congress will pass legislation to kill the health care law.
They are committed to the repeal of Obamacare. The House voted for repeal more than 50 times while the Democrats controlled the Senate. Now that the Republicans have won the Senate, it’s a sure bet they will have another go at repeal.
I’m also betting they will get help from the Supreme Court, which is set to strike down a key component of the law – federal subsidies in the 36 states that did not set up their own health care exchanges.
The resulting chaos would provide even more of an excuse to scrap the law.
Of course, President Obama will veto the repeal legislation. Will there be enough votes in Congress to override the President’s veto?
Probably not.
But the Republicans will be able to go to their base in 2016 and report that they kept their promise to repeal the law. They will urge voters to put a Republican in the White House so they can finish the job.
That’s not the only blockbuster you can expect from the new Congress. There will be drama a-plenty.
President Obama will be honor-bound to take some kind of executive action on behalf of America’s 12 million undocumented immigrants. That’s what he has promised to do, and I’m confident he will keep his promise
Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have made it clear that if the President does that, they will impeach him.
I don’t think the Republicans have the votes in the Senate to get actual impeachment, but they will be able to stage a scandalous “trial” with lots of opportunities to drag the President’s legacy through the mud. And that won’t be the only anti-Obama theater.
The President will be the target of an avalanche of hearings.
Senator Ted Cruz, for example, has vowed to hold more hearings on Benghazi, the IRS and a slew of other hot-button topics.
In between muck-raking hearings, the Republicans could pass laws reversing abortion rights (and banning some kinds of birth control), blocking same-sex marriage, encouraging gun ownership, promoting oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and national parks, approving the XL pipeline, and so on, as they pander to their base ahead of the next round of elections.
They might also stage blockades to extort budget cuts, with the cuts coming entirely from social services. Even Social Security and Medicare are in danger. And they are likely to pour more billions into “national defense” as they urge more military action around the globe.
Or they might decide to hold off on such substantive stuff as long as the President remains a Democrat. They might decide to wait until the threat of his veto pen is gone.
But, either way, don’t kid yourself that real-life issues like equal pay, tax and immigration reform or the minimum wage will be addressed. And don’t look for stimulus spending to boost job growth and repair America’s crumbling roads and bridges.
The talk you’re hearing about “working together” and “compromise” is just hot air.
The Republicans can’t even “work together” with each other. The Tea Party caucus is as strong as ever, and you know how they feel about compromise.
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