While Washington was waking up this morning, Reps. Mark Walker and Mark Meadows made things official on C-SPAN. Chairmen, respectively, of the Republican Study Committee and Freedom Caucus, the pair demanded complete repeal of Obamacare long before a replacement’s available.
More than posturing, the budding congressional bromance is meant to keep Republicans from getting cold feet. Walker and Meadows want to reuse a standalone repeal package that Republicans forced Obama to veto in 2016.
That shouldn’t be that hard of a proposition. “Seventy percent of the members have been elected on the Republican side running on promises that they’d do a full repeal of Obamacare,” Walker explains. “We’re just wanting to make sure we fulfill those promises to the people.” But three weeks into the Trump presidency and the GOP still has problems committing.
Republicans are all tied up in knots over whether to repeal the law with or without a replacement. All that hemming and hawing make Walker and Meadows worry that the GOP will lose their nerve.
Members are already beginning to wilt. For instance, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy once railed against Obamacare in the House. Now in the upper chamber and under pressure, Cassidy has learned to live with Obama’s marquee healthcare law. He rolled out a plan that would keep the taxes, Medicare expansion, and mandates. The longer Republicans delay, the more likely a half-measure like Cassidy’s bill becomes.
Afraid of that possibility, House conservatives want to reintroduce a 2016 reconciliation bill to gut most of Obamacare. While the legislation ultimately failed, it gave Republicans something to offer frustrated constituents during a difficult election year. Walker and Meadows believe that promise swept Republicans into the White House and they want the GOP to deliver.
“The American people cannot afford to wait any longer for us to prove that we are working to relieve their burdens,” Meadows said in a statement. “There is no reason for Republicans to send anything less on repeal to President Trump’s desk than we did President Obama’s desk.”
House Speaker Ryan isn’t on board though. At a press conference this morning, the cautious policy wonk poured cold water on the idea of repealing the law without a replacement ready. Instead Ryan promises a “step-by-step” plan that simultaneously repeals and replaces the law so that “no one has the rug pulled out from under them while we work toward a better, more stable system.”
The speaker should think twice before jilting the conservatives though. A decent power couple, the Freedom Caucus knows how to weaponize House rules while the 170 members of the Republican Study Committee provide decent legislative muscle.
Together, Walker and Meadows could end up forcing Ryan’s hand.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
