House GOP mulls "failed strategy"

[Greenbeard]

With opinion in the GOP ranks apparently split (ObamaCare funding battle pits Tea Party vs. establishment GOP) over the wisdom of shutting down the government to show how much they hate Obamacare, Tom Coburn sat down with the Washington Post to offer some perspective:

Sarah Kliff: What do you think of the effort underway to defund Obamacare?

Tom Coburn: I don’t think it’s achievable. A good portion of the health-care law is mandatory spending and repealing that would require two-thirds of the House and 67 votes in the Senate. I don’t see that happening.

I don’t see how you passing a CR [continuing resolution to fund the government] that does this. And let’s say you do, and the President vetoes the CR. Then what happens? How fast do members of Congress who voted for that strategy fold when the government shuts down? I’ve been here when we’ve done that, and it’s not a strategy that works. This is misleading the conservative base because it’s not achievable, and all it will do in the long run is dispirit the base. This is a failed strategy for conservatives.

SK: What do you think of legislators who say that they’re willing to shut down the federal government over Obamacare funding?

TC: If you’re actually going to do that, and hold it, that’d be fine. The problem is that I know the strength of the backbone of the Senate and House, and as soon as the heat gets hot they’ll fall like wet suits.

They don’t have a microphone. Let me tell you what happens when you shut down the government: You start seeing the consequences. Who controls what is left operating? The president. As soon as the first Medicare bills go unpaid, where do you think the pressure will be? And what’s the likelihood the president will collapse on the most significant legislative accomplishment of his administration?

They have no idea, I was in it. I experienced it.

Tell us how you really feel, Tom. That said, were I a GOP Senator I'd be pretty anxious about what the House GOP is about to do, too.

 

[zeke]

DO IT. With the 2014 elections just around the corner, we need to get control of the House out of the hands of the Repubs.

Shutting down the government should allow that to happen. It may happen anyway, but that would about guarantee it.

 

[Wyatt earp]

DO IT. With the 2014 elections just around the corner, we need to get control of the House out of the hands of the Repubs.

Shutting down the government should allow that to happen. It may happen anyway, but that would about guarantee it.

dude the way it looks now on paper you wont even get to hold the Senate only 6 seats the repubs need to take and there all in red states.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Obamacare? You mean the great wonderful cost bending legislation that was just delayed a year because we can't handle all that awesomeness all at once?

 

[zeke]

DO IT. With the 2014 elections just around the corner, we need to get control of the House out of the hands of the Repubs.

Shutting down the government should allow that to happen. It may happen anyway, but that would about guarantee it.

dude the way it looks now on paper you wont even get to hold the Senate only 6 seats the repubs need to take and there all in red states.

SHUT ER DOWN and lets find out.

Did you predict Mittens for the win also?

 

[Greenbeard]

dude the way it looks now on paper you wont even get to hold the Senate only 6 seats the repubs need to take and there all in red states.

It'll be the third election in a row that, on paper, should see the Dems lose the Senate. Perhaps the third time's a charm.

Then again, it looks like we've got a shutdown looming. That'll be fascinating to watch.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Not going to happen, the Tea Party is not Self destructive

Dream on, McDuff

 

[zeke]

Not going to happen, the Tea Party is not Self destructive

Dream on, McDuff[/QUOTE


In other words, Tea Partiers are just like any other politicians. Get in power, do ANYTHING necessary to stay in power. If that means abandon your supposed principles, so be it. Right?

 

[Divine Wind]

"Whatever it takes" is a common philosophy in Washington, DC

 

[zeke]

divine, do they still allow moderates in the Republican party? You must be lonely. Stick around. Some moderate GOP positions would be interesting to read.

 

[Dot Com]

I'm w/ zeke on this one

 

[NightFox]

Obamacare? You mean the great wonderful cost bending legislation that was just delayed a year because we can't handle all that awesomeness all at once?

Yes that one, unfortunately the great wonderful cost bending legislation bent the costs in the wrong direction...

 

[ScienceRocks]

I'd charge a few things...I wouldn't cut a cross the board.

-Agree with increases within
1. Infastructure
2. Science and tech

But demand debate on the health care law and maybe on taxes. Turn the tables on the other side while giving the other side something that would be good for this country.

 

[Immanuel]

Not going to happen, the Tea Party is not Self destructive

Dream on, McDuff

Not going to happen because the vast majority of Republicans are progressives who want nothing more than to control our lives just like Obama and the Democrats. Why on earth would they vote to end the control of the economy that Obamacare has given them when they know that, just like the Democrats and the Patriot Act, someday they will again have the power to screw America's citizens? They are not going to give that up, not in a million years.

Immie

 

[blackhawk]

Hate to tell some of you this but the 2014 midterms will also be about the Democrats and their policies and ideas as well. Most of their policies have not worked out very well as has already been pointed Obama has pushed the employer mandate of his pride and joy Obamacare back a year to avoid the midterms and the one answer the left has for every problem spend more money is not going over near as well as it once did.

 

[Greenbeard]

Obamacare? You mean the great wonderful cost bending legislation that was just delayed a year because we can't handle all that awesomeness all at once?

Yes that one, unfortunately the great wonderful cost bending legislation bent the costs in the wrong direction...

Reality check:

We remain in the middle of large sustained, unprecedented slowdown in overall health spending:

Provisions in the Affordable Care Act that penalize hospitals for excessive readmissions and encourage employers to offer wellness programs are slowing the growth of U.S. medical costs, even as the economy rebounds.

Health-care costs for commercial insurers and employers are expected to rise about 4.5 percent next year after accounting for changes in benefits, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said in a report today. The increase is a percentage point less than what the consulting company projected for 2013.

PwC’s findings track with studies by the government and others that show continued slow growth in medical costs even with the economy four years into an upswing since the 2007-2009 recession. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in January that U.S. health spending, including from government programs, rose 3.9 percent in 2011, matching the slowest growth in 52 years of record keeping.

We're similarly experiencing the lowest health care price inflation on record:

Health care price inflation in May 2013, at 1.0% year-over-year, is growing at a historically low rate. While “all-time low” may be too strong, given that our data extend back only to January 1990, it’s difficult to imagine a lower rate in the last 70 years. The 12-month moving average at 1.8% in April 2013 is the lowest since the 1.7% recorded in September 1998.

As a result of this economy-wide bending of the cost curve, hundreds of billions of dollars in expected Medicare and Medicaid spending have melted away:

In recent years, health care spending has grown much more slowly both nationally and for federal programs than historical rates would have indicated. For example, in 2012, federal spending for Medicare and Medicaid was about 5 percent below the amount that CBO had projected in March 2010.

In response to that slowdown, over the past several years CBO has made a series of downward adjustments to its projections of spending for Medicaid and Medicare. For example, from the March 2010 baseline to the current baseline, technical revisions—mostly reflecting the slower growth in the programs’ spending in recent years—have lowered CBO’s estimates of federal spending for the two programs in 2020 by about $200 billion—by $126 billion for Medicare and by $78 billion for Medicaid, or by roughly 15 percent for each program.

 

[Greenbeard]

Anyway, it looks like at least the House's Senate allies are already starting to wave the white flag. Bummer.

Lee downplays ObamaCare shutdown threat: Government ‘going to get funded’

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Sunday defended his efforts to block any funding bill that provides money to roll out the president's healthcare reforms and downplayed the chances those efforts could shutdown the government.

"We all know the government is going to get funded, the only question is if the government gets funded with ObamaCare or without it," said Lee on “Fox News Sunday.” "If we can delay it, we can stop its consequences at least for now."

Lee said he was not calling for a shutdown, given the impossible odds President Obama would sign a bill defunding his signature legislative achievement.

Looks like the answer is "with it."