Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must have a lot on his mind. Because of Senate Republican’s Obamacare failure, premiums will increase, coverage will diminish, and just maybe one of the majority leader’s least favorite people might join him in the upper chamber.
In a special Alabama Senate election, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., is making the failure a referendum, arguing this morning that if the Senate can’t repeal Obamacare McConnell should step aside.
“If they’re gonna quit, well then, by golly, maybe they ought to start at the top with Mitch McConnell leaving his position, and letting somebody new, somebody bold, somebody conservative take the reins so that they can come up with a plan that can get through the United States Senate and serve the needs of the American people,” Brooks said on CNN.
And while that sort of rhetoric isn’t new from Brooks, it should make his opponent, incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, more than nervous.
Since coming to Washington in February, Strange has been a loyal McConnell foot soldier. In return, the majority leader has offered protection, mostly by flooding the Alabama airwaves with ads. But now that loyalty is quickly becoming a liability.
Ahead of the Aug. 15 contest, Brooks has adopted a throw-the-bums-out strategy. If McConnell and company can’t get the job done, he argues, then what business do they have working in the Senate?
Alabama will be a captive audience for that argument. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, premiums have increased by a whopping 223 percent. According to HHS, the average monthly premium is $575.
McConnell said last night that “it’s time to move on” from the healthcare debate and while Strange has done everything in his power to repeal the healthcare law, the majority leader might have accidentally left him behind.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
