The Republicans need to wake up and learn how to negotiate.
On the current path, the only questions are: will the Republicans cave before or after a government shutdown, and how successful will the liberal press will be in blaming them for it? Any argument that risks a shutdown or suggests undoing Obamacare is a losing argument.
What the right needs to do is to create a winning argument. The good news is the facts are on their side.
The argument should not be whether or not Obamacare is a good or bad law. Instead, the GOP should frame the debate in terms of implementing the law as the president promised and sold it.
The House should send a bill back to the Senate that approves Obamacare subject to reasonable conditions, such as the following:
The General Accounting Office (GAO) or another independent entity needs to confirm that Obamacare will meet 75% of the projections for 3/4ths of the key metrics that Obama sold and Congress approved, including:
- Cost of premiums
- Number of uninsured
- Total cost of the budget
- Number of people that can keep their existing policy
- Number of people who will keep their original doctor
- Number of insurers in each exchange
- Reduction in overall cost of health care
The House must acknowledge that things change; projections are not exact and new programs need start up time. Therefore, a cushion should be offered to ensure the motive of the law is kept and not used as a technical tool to undo the law.
Republicans should agree that once these hurdles are met, Obamacare will be funded.
This completely changes the focus from whether the law is good or bad to one that says, “President Obama wanted this and won the election, so let’s see to it that Americans experience exactly the bill Obama wanted them to experience.”
The left will find it hard to argue against implementing the bill they fought for and passed. Meanwhile, those of us on the right that are confident these hurdles will never be met can be confident that Obamacare will never be funded–and if it is, it will only after the promises Obama made about his healthcare overhaul are at least partially met.