Mission Impassable: GOP Tries for Health Fix

Tony Perkins' Washington Update: Is it a vote on health care -- or a vote to stay in power? It's both, according to a lot of Republicans. Keeping their promise to America may be the only way to keep their control of Congress -- and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) knows it. The Iowa conservative vented about the internal squabbling over the weekend when talks about the GOP bill looked bleakest. In a blunt tweet, Grassley scolded his colleagues for not getting their act together. "52 Republican senators [should] be ashamed that we have not passed health reform by now WE WONT BE ASHAMED WE WILL GO FROM MAJORITY TO MINORITY."

Cleaning up an eight-year mess in six months has been as tough as advertised for the GOP, which flew back into town today after getting an earful in their home states. For people like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), it wasn't much of a holiday. In his race against the clock, he and other Republicans have been working through the recess trying to cobble together another version of the bill to replace Obamacare. And voters aren't the only ones getting antsy. On the weekend talk shows, Senators like John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) weren't exactly optimistic about the GOP's prospects of striking a deal in the days left before the August break. Calling the last version "dead," the pair left the door open for whatever edits McConnell may have made to the plan that almost a dozen Republicans opposed. "Is the serious rewrite plan dead? I don't know," Cassidy said.

Fortunately, not everyone shares the duo's bleak outlook. President Trump isn't about to throw in the towel on an issue that clearly helped propel him to victory. "For years, even as a 'civilian,' I listened as Republicans pushed the repeal and replace of Obamacare," he tweeted. "Now they finally have their chance!" He followed that up with a subtle push, "I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new health care bill fully approved and ready to go." Like other conservatives, he doesn't think the August break is nearly as important as finishing the people's business. At this point, everything is on the table, including forgoing the Senate's time off.

"Whether it'd be before August recess or during August recess, the president expects the Senate to fulfill the promises it made to the American people," the White House's Reince Priebus told reporters. If sacrificing some vacation time is what it takes to get the job done, then Republicans are willing. Ten of them even sent a letter to McConnell to that effect, asking him to postpone the start of the recess so they could finish what the House started. During the past week, the Majority Leader tweaked his Better Care Reconciliation Act, updating it to address some of the GOP's concerns. If his party still can't agree, McConnell still has the option to put the 2015 bill on the floor and essentially repeal Obamacare. That would accomplish two things: eliminating Obama's failure of a law and buying Republicans more time on a replacement.

Doing nothing is no longer an option when the health care exchange is imploding, insurers are running for the exits, and premiums are through the roof. Republicans may not agree on everything about the health care repeal, but they should all agree on this: the law has to go. And as far as unborn children are concerned, the sooner the better. Every day that Obamacare is in place is a day that our tax dollars are being used to subsidize abortion coverage. That must stop!
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Tony Perkins is President of the Family Research Council . This article was on Tony Perkin's Washington Update an written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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