So what’s in the Republican healthcare bill? It’s time for the Washington hypocrites to take another victory lap. None other than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gets the spotlight on this one. And she didn’t disappoint. If you need another example of why Americans hold their political parties in contempt, then look no further than the leadership provided by Ms. Pelosi. We guess they think we are all fools. Or will simply march behind their pied pipes to whatever tunes they choose to play.
Let’s rewind just a little bit. The time was 2010. The Democrats were in control of both the House and the Senate. Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House. The Republicans had no say in the little matter known as health care reform. And so the House passed the Senate’s Obamacare bill in March, 2010.
Pelosi as Majority Leader: Let’s Pass the Law First, Then Read It
Then Ms. Pelosi went on a public persuasion tour. She touted the many virtues of the grand legislation. But during a 20-minute speech to the National Association of Counties on March 9, 2010, she slipped up and said this:
You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention — it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting.
But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.
Apologists for Ms. Pelosi quickly rallied behind her. She didn’t really mean what these words said, they claimed. But Ms. Pelosi had a second chance when she appeared on Meet the Press. She seized the opportunity and confirmed her prior comment: “I stand by what I said there.”
She was candid and direct. There’s no ambiguity.
The Republican Healthcare Bill – It’s Their Turn, But We Need to See the Law First
So now it’s the Republicans turn at the healthcare disaster bill trough. And we’re waiting to see what antonym they will choose to counter the “Affordable” Care Act. But we digress. Let’s take a look at Minority Leader Pelosi’s letter to Speaker Ryan, complaining about the new Republican proposal:
This week, the Committees on Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means will be marking up Republicans’ long-feared bill to dismantle affordable health care. [Editor’s Note: there goes that “affordable” antonym again.] The GOP legislation will have life or death consequences for tens of millions of families across America, and extraordinary impacts on state and federal budgets long into the future.
The American people and Members have a right to know the full impact of this legislation before any vote in Committee or by the whole House.
I hope that Republicans will honor their responsibility to the American people both before the Committees vote and before the final bill goes to the House floor.
Too good to be true. And you wonder why Americans disdain their political “leaders.”
By the way, Ms. Pelosi promised in 2010 that Obamacare itself would “alone will create 4 million jobs.” That didn’t go too well. Though we could argue that millions more healthcare jobs is not the best type of job creation for the overall economy. But we’ll leave that for another day. This time, the Republican healthcare bill will have its own job claims, we are quite sure.