GOP dilemma - Koch's or constituents: whose interests really count?

Satire from Ted Block

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Obamacare replacement announced; will scrapp individual mandate

Conservative activist groups pressuring to get it passed, and fast

After revealing their plan for replacing Obamacare today, the next challenge for Republicans will be to get the plan passed in Congress fast enough for conservative special interest groups.

The bill announced today would scrapp* the mandate for most Americans to have health insurance in favor of a new system of tax credits to induce people to buy insurance on the open market. The plan calls for a new health law that would be far more oriented to the free market and would make far-reaching changes to a vast part of the American economy.

However, simply announcing the law is not enough for right-wing activist organizations. Saying their patience is at an end, conservative activist groups backed by the billionaire Koch brothers and other powerful interests on the right are mobilizing to pressure Republicans to fulfill their promise to swiftly repeal the Affordable Care Act and get the new law passed.

With angry constituents storming town hall-style meetings across the country and demanding that Congress not repeal the law, these new campaigns are a sign of a growing concern on the right that lawmakers might buckle to the pressure.

“We’ve been patient this year, but it is past time to act and to act decisively,” said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, which is coordinating the push with other groups across the Kochs’ political network. “Our network has spent more money, more time and more years fighting Obamacare than anything else. And now with the finish line in sight, we cannot allow some folks to pull up and give up.”

Going further than Mr. Phillips of Americans for Prosperity, Tucker Fredrickson-Carlson-Edmonson, a spokesman for the conservative activist group We Know What’s Good For You – You Don't said, “Our patience is at an end. Republicans in Congress have to stop listening to their constituents who are now saying that they don’t want Obamacare to be repealed.”

Fredrickson-Carlson-Edmonson went on to say, “Look, it's a very simple issue of priorities. Congressional Republicans need to prioritize whose interests they’re representing. And it's clear that their number one priority needs to be to the groups who are giving them the money to get elected in the first place. If that happens to coincide with the needs of their constituents, great; if not, well that’s just how the system works.”


*In a demonstration of solidarity with President Trump and his “tapp” tweet, Republicans in Congress will now use a double “p” for all words formerly ending with a single “p”.