House Freedom Caucus holds GOP accountable to its promises

Update, 3/24/17, 4 p.m.: By standing firm, the House Freedom caucus won out as Donald Trump reportedly asked Speaker Ryan to pull the bill before it failed in the House. Ryan is scheduled to speak at 4 p.m. on the measure. This is a solid win for the Freedom Caucus and conservatives. Remember, at no time were any of the Big Government programs of George W. Bush stopped by a Republican Congress.

Despite what the establishment Republican stenographers at places like the Wall Street Journal are telling you, there is only one question that should be asked about what any “repeal” of Obamacare should look like: Will the bill result in lower health care premiums by the 2018 election? Politically and morally that is the only question that should be asked. Paul Ryan’s RINOcare does not achieve that goal.

Instead of owning up to the American people that his plan does not actually repeal the most onerous parts of Obamacare, Ryan is relying on his allies in the establishment side of the right of center media to attack his real enemies: the House Freedom Caucus. How dare a group of conservative members of Congress hold their party’s feet to the fire to do what they promised they would do.

Here’s what the Journal published late in the night on March 23^rd.

Oh yes, over mere “details.” The Journal should give us all a break and stop being disingenuous. The two major points of the Journal’s opinion piece — 1) that nobody has offered a “policy alternative,” and2) that the party’s voted for “symbolic repeal” — can be countered by the same point. The policy alternative is the repeal measure that has already passed both houses of Congress.

In 2016, the GOP-controlled Congress passed a clean repeal bill through the reconciliation process. It was sent to Barack Obama, who vetoed it, as CNN reported at the time. In 2017, Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has offered a bill that does many of the same things, as the 2016 legislation.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus have time and time again stated that this exact bill is what should be voted on by Congress. Contrary to the Journal and what Quin Hillyer wrote in the Washington Examiner, it isn’t the Freedom Caucus who is being disingenuous. It is Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and the establishment wing of the Republican Party. These folks were perfectly fine with passing full repeal when they knew President Obama was not going to sign it. Now that they actually have a president that would sign that bill, they are balking at actually repealing the onerous aspects of the law — the regulations. The Freedom Caucus is only asking that the GOP once again pass what they already have.

It’s pretty easy to see who one should truly be disgusted at. It’s not Mark Meadows (R-N.C), and the other members of the Freedom Caucus. It is Paul Ryan and his leadership team, who refuse to offer the bill they already passed in 2016 as the model they would use if they had a president who would sign it.

Ryan now has a president who would sign the 2016 legislation that easily passed in a campaign year as the blueprint for repeal. He refuses to bring it to a vote, lest is show that the GOP campaign promises mean nothing. The Freedom Caucus is absolutely right to insist that the House and Senate do so.