"Repeal ObamaCare. Don't replace it."
This is the only valid position to hold. This was the position of the Republican Party beginning in 2010, when every Republican member of the House and every Republican member of the Senate voted against it. There was no compromise. There was no waffling. There was open opposition.
Every year since then, Republicans in both houses of Congress have submitted a bill that would repeal ObamaCare: No if's, and's, or but's.
It was all fake. It was all political show. It was all for nothing. RyanCare proves it.
President Trump is telling Republicans in the House of Representatives that if they don't vote for RyanCare, they will lose their seats in 2018. The President is wrong. Opposition to RyanCare is a badge of honor: a refusal to retreat from full repeal.
Back in 1976, I wrote all of Congressman Ron Paul's weekly newsletters that were mailed to people in his district. I can tell you exactly how I would write the newsletter for every Republican who votes against RyanCare, and who really does oppose all revisions of ObamaCare.
Why I Voted Against RyanCareRecently, I voted against RyanCare, also known as ObamaCare Lite. That bill was just one more attempt to force all working Americans into a system of mandatory health insurance.
Every year since ObamaCare became law in 2010, Republicans have submitted a bill to repeal ObamaCare. I voted for it each time. It failed every year because Democrats in the Senate voted against it. But then it passed both houses in 2016 because Republicans had recaptured the Senate. Naturally, President Obama vetoed it.
After the veto, Speaker of the House Ryan issued this statement: "The idea that Obamacare is the law of the land for good is a myth. This law will collapse under its own weight, or it will be repealed. We have now shown that there is a clear path to repealing Obamacare without 60 votes in the Senate. So, next year, if we're sending this bill to a Republican president, it will get signed into law."
I agree 100% with his sentiment. I am in favor of doing exactly what Speaker Ryan last year said Republicans would do this year. Unfortunately, that is not what he did. He attempted to ram down the throats of Republican conservatives a new bill which is not much better than ObamaCare.
I am in favor of repeal and nothing but repeal. No if's, and's, or but's. No waffling. Repeal.
The President has said that any Republican who voted against RyanCare will lose the next election. I think he's wrong. But if that is the price of opposing RyanCare, it's worth it to me.
I am therefore re-submitting exactly the same bill this year that I voted for in 2016: a bill to repeal ObamaCare, but with no substitutions, qualifications, or government interventions into healthcare insurance.
For me, this is an all-or-nothing issue. We should bury ObamaCare, once and for all. No more waffling. No more compromising. Full repeal. Now.
In any Congressional district that has a reasonable Republican majority, this message will sell. Even if it doesn't, it's better to go down fighting for the good cause rather than climbing on board the U.S.S. ObamaCare Lite.
Paul Ryan is a compromiser. He sounded tough in 2016. He sounds like a RINO today. He is just one more apologist for the federal government pushing people around.
President Trump made a strategic error in calling for anything except repeal. He became a supporter of RyanCare, and he deserves to be beaten on this issue. Hard-core Republicans in the House and the Senate need to send him a message. I hope they do.
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