'And then we said we’d have an ACA replacement!'
(Source: Associated Press)
But today President Obama vetoed the Republican reconciliation bill and reminded the GOP that forcing more than 22 million hard-working middle-class families to lose the affordable health coverage they deserve is no laughing matter.
In fact, the media has rightly noted the ridiculous futility of the Republican quest: the GOP, wasting taxpayer money with these votes, continues to face the same obstacle they've encountered for a very long time:
- The Hill: GOP heads into 2016 fight with no clear ObamaCare plan
The GOP has failed to put forward a full ObamaCare replacement plan...
...since ObamaCare became law in 2010, the GOP has made almost no progress on the more elusive goal of drafting an alternative despite multiple working groups and more than 60 votes to repeal it.
The party has held no markups, hearings or budget analysis on any replacement bills, and leaders have repeatedly refused to endorse any single provision beyond a broader promise to offer "patient-centered care."
"There is no current alternative that comes anywhere near covering 22 million people," Drew Hammill, an aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), wrote in an email.
The lack of hearings and markups, he said, shows that "Republicans seem to not take it seriously."
- POLITICO: House GOP: Paul Ryan policy plans likely to be avoided
Speaker Paul Ryan has said he wants to "go big on ideas" in 2016 to give his party concrete policies to run on and voters an alternative to what Democrats are offering.
But those ideas might just remain, well, ideas.
Senior House Republican aides and lawmakers say they do not plan to hold votes on many of the agenda items the party plans to unveil — such as a health care plan to replace Obamacare...
"...Republicans in Congress have been promising to unify around their own health-care plan since 2009, but they have refused to do it..."
- The Huffington Post: GOP Throws Big Party About Losing
Laughter, applause, celebration for passing an Obamacare repeal bill that's about to get vetoed.
Republicans just passed a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 62nd time, and it's going to get vetoed. That calls for a party!
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) held a ceremony Thursday afternoon to celebrate...
But Republicans actually are no closer to repealing the health care law than they were the previous 61 times they voted to do it. They haven't repealed anything, and they know the president is going to veto their bill. And, as HuffPost's Jeffrey Young reports, even on the precipice of what they want to be seen as a win on Obamacare, Republican leaders still have no answer to the question of what their alternative plan would be for the millions of people getting health care under the current law.