Former House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday morning that congressional Republicans are “going to fix Obamacare – I shouldn’t call it repeal-and-replace, because it’s not going to happen,” Politico reports, and “Most of the framework of the Affordable Care Act … that’s going to be there.”
These comments are coming across as Boehner-unchained speaking the plain truth.
This guy loves being retired. https://t.co/eo2d6YJemR
— Aaron Back (@AaronBack) February 23, 2017
Frankly, I tend to think Boehner is correct here. But it seems relevant that Boehner isn’t actually retired. He’s not merely a former House Speaker, speaking his mind.
Boehner is a “Senior Strategic Advisor” at K Street lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs, whose clients include healthcare giant United Health among other clients lobbying on healthcare policy. He was speaking at the conference, whose sponsors include the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the American Medical Association and many other health-industry lobbies and companies.
These connections don’t make Boehner’s statements wrong, but they do seem relevant. Nevertheless, his lobbying activity isn’t mentioned in the Politico piece, the Vox piece, the Associated Press story, or any other story I’ve found on his comments.
Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s commentary editor, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
