GOP to President: If We Win, It's Your Fault

"Obamacare" and the GOP, a chronology:

2009

• November 7 -- U.S. House of Representatives votes on and passes the Affordable Care Act
• December 24 -- U.S. Senate votes on and passes the Affordable Care Act.

2010

• March 23 -- President Obama signs the Affordable Care Act into law.
• March 24 -- Republican party begins its campaign to repeal the law.
• April - December -- Republicans claim they are working on a better healthcare alternative to "Obamacare." House holds first vote to repeal the law; also the second, the third, the... 

2011

• January - December -- Work on the Republican alternative healthcare plan continues, as do the votes to repeal the existing law. One repeal bill includes wording requiring the House to offer alternative legislation within 6 months.

2012

• January - October -- Votes to repeal the ACA continue in the House. Six months come and go; there is no sign of the GOP's alternative plan.  A promise to repeal "Obamacare" becomes center of all Republican campaigns. 
• October 30 -- Mitt Romney rips "Obamacare" in interview with USA Today.  
• November 6 -- Barack Obama is re-elected President of the United States.
• November 8 -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) declares the people have spoken and "Obamacare is the law of the land."
• November 9 -- Republicans re-commit to repealing "Obamacare." New votes to repeal the law are planned.

2013

• January - September -- Repeal votes continue; committees work on GOP alternative plan. 
• October 1 -- Federal healthcare exchanges open and they are a mess. State exchanges seem to be working.
• October 2 -- Republicans have a field day, claim this is proof the law will fail, no one will sign up.  Call for more votes to repeal.  No mention of a GOP alternative plan.
• December -- Federal exchanges fixed, enrollment figures are higher than expected. Republicans plan more repeal votes.

2014

• January - Republicans continue to claim "Obamacare" is failing.  Announce they are continuing their work on a GOP alternative.
• February 25 -- Then House Minority Leader Eric Cantor declares that he will be meeting with the relevant committee heads to begin crafting an alternative to "Obamacare".  He further pledges that the GOP will lead the charge to repeal the existing law and pass their alternative "this year."
• March  - November -- Mid-term elections heat up; Republicans repeat their 2012 campaign promise to repeal "Obamacare."  House continues to hold votes to repeal the law. Republicans claim they are close to presenting their alternative plan.
• November 4 -- Republicans take control of both houses of Congress and promise to repeal "Obamacare."
• November 21 -- After two unsuccessful tries, House Speaker John Boehner announces he has filed a suit against President Obama and his enactment of "Obamacare."

2015

• January -- New Congress is sworn in.  Republicans promise to repeal "Obamacare" and present their own alternative plan.
• February 2 -- President Obama says he will veto any bill to repeal the ACA.
• February 3 -- House votes to repeal "Obamacare" for the 56th time, passes H.R.596.  The bill also directs the House to draft "replacement legislation" within six months. (see 2011)
• March -- Supreme Court will hear King v. Burwell which will decide whether people who signed up for healthcare through federal exchanges (as they were forced to do after their Republican led state refused to set up an exchange of its own) are eligible for the same subsidies enjoyed by those who signed up through a state exchange.

A legal brief in support of the case before the Supreme Court was written by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). These lawmakers urged the Supreme Court to find that subsidies provided through federal exchanges are illegal.

what eye thynk:   We have heard 50 months of promises that a GOP alternative is on the horizon.  We have watched House Republicans vote 56 times to overturn the President's healthcare law, despite the fact they have no alternative plan ready to replace it.  Congressional Republicans have filed one lawsuit and offered their support for the King v. Burwell case.  

Now, with just weeks before the King case is heard, Republican leadership is being forced to acknowledge the ugly consequences of winning, namely that their actions will have real consequences for real people--people who vote Republican. If they are successful, millions of Americans in Republican dominated states will find themselves uninsured and/or unable to afford their insurance premiums and they will be looking to their elected Republican officials for answers.

The GOP is forced to face up to the fact that, despite their promises, there still is no solid, set for a vote, ready-to-be-implemented Republican alternative plan in evidence.

So how are congressional Republicans dealing with this reality?  By blaming the President, of course.  Last week, the Senate held a hearing to ask Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to explain what the President planned to do if the Republican suit is successful--not to announce what THEY have planned if they get what they want, but to blame the lack of a plan on the President. 

When Ms. Burwell replied that her focus and that of the White House was on implementing the law, Senator Cronyn called her response "disrespectful."

Senator Ted Cruz: "The administration has done absolutely nothing to prepare for an upcoming Supreme Court decision that could leave millions of Americans unable to afford insurance thanks to this failed law."

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) responded, "I find it ironic for Republican senators to argue that the federal exchange subsidies are illegal and then demand that the administration explain how it plans to repair the damage that will be done if their argument is successful and the Supreme Court rules in their favor."

I would offer a less polite assessment:  WTF?