Is there a Republican plan to replace Obamacare? Is there a
Republican immigration reform plan? If so, please someone, show me what they
are? Why have I not heard about them
yet?
The only Republican Healthcare plan I have heard of so far
consists of more than 40 votes in the House of Representatives to repeal Obamacare.
While allowing Republican House members to feel good, these votes have been a
waste of time and money.
As THE Legislative Branch of the American Government, if you
do not like a plan that has tackled a huge national problem, you are in a position
to propose an alternative. Nullification is not an alternative plan, it is
reversion to the status quo of six years ago—which is not acceptable.
Same with Immigration policy. President Obama has offered to
sit and negotiate with House and Senate Republicans for years on Immigration
policy and they have not taken him up on the offer. They have their reasons: They want to keep
the issue alive as red meat for their base; they know if they sit with the
President they will be Tea Party primaried, and they wanted President Obama to
take unilateral action so they could complain about that, too.
Now that the President has acted, the House and Senate
Republicans have easy recourse. They can write a law that reforms immigration
policy and they can pass the law. If it has enough support, it could even withstand
a Presidential veto, (of course, to do that it would have to be moderate enough
to convince some Democrats to vote for it. But if it is moderate enough to
convince some Democrats to vote for it, it will lose the support of the Crazy
Wing of the House Republicans—which is a fairly sizable wing at this point.)
So, in the end, it boils down to this for the Republican
majorities in the House and the Senate:
Write new laws or shut the hell up.
I cannot take their whining any more and I hope the President feels the same. Maybe this most recent electoral walloping will free him up to do the right things on climate, immigration, the Keystone Pipeline, and more. I certainly hope so.
And again, if the Republicans don’t like it, they should do
the job of a lawmaker and actually make some laws. Buckle in, these next two
years could be a hell of a ride.
