Republican move to repeal Obama health care just a show

Incoming republican House Leader John Boehner has pledged to make his first order of business the repeal of the health care reform law passed last year by the 111^th Congress. But the move is strictly symbolic.

In a recent statement, Rep John Boehner reaffirmed his pledge to bring ups a vote in the House to repeal ‘Obamacare,’ the controversial health care bill that President Obama and the democratically controlled Congress passed in the last session. 

While Boehner will be able to bring the measure up for a vote with his new republican majority, there is virtually no chance that the bill will pass, so the effort is more for show than anything else.

If the repeal of ‘Obamacare’ passes the House, it will move on to the Senate, where Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid is not likely to let the Senate vote on the measure. And even if somehow the Senate did pass the measure, President Obama would still have to sign it, which is also not likely to happen.

Republicans are aware of the fact that their efforts to repeal the health care from law has virtually no chance of passing, but will likely go through the motions as a symbolic gesture.

The GOP will likely continue to blame health care reform for everything from unemployment to global warming, in hopes of manipulation the minds of voters so they can win the White House in 2012. 

Misrepresenting Obama’s health care reform was a successful ploy during the year-long debate over the bill. However, since the bill passed, Americans have realized that it not only did not include any ‘death panels’ as republicans claimed, many are enjoying the advantages of the bill, like the end to exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

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Analysis: Obama vs the Republicans

For the past two years the American people have been virtual bystanders in the legislative process of their representative government. Republicans in the minority have been blocking every hint of forward progress that has come across the Senate floor in an effort to make President Obama ‘a one term president,’ according to republican leader Mitch McConnell.

But after making a deal with leadership on tax cuts for the rich, the gridlock that had been strangling Congress for the past two years suddenly stopped, much to the surprise of the country. In a single day, DADT, the military ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the US military, the START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, and health for 9/11 first responders, became law. The Obama victories made the outgoing 111^th Congress the most productive body of lawmakers in nearly one hundred years.

The American people finally got what they have wanted for a long time. They got their lawmakers to accomplish what the majority of them wanted. If the 112^th Congress follows this path they may well win the White House in 2012. If they go back to spending their energy blocking progress, voters may regret giving the GOP control of the House and take it back with a vengeance in the next election.

The republican rebellion against Mitch McConnell surfaced in the defection of a his party on the 9/11 health care bill. An MSNBC text poll said republicans were ‘shamed’ into supporting the continued care of rescuers of the September 11 attacks. Perhaps they were. Will they also be shamed into continuing to help the unemployed?

What Americans took away from the most inspiring success of lawmakers in generations was the power of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and the fulfillment of President Obama’s campaign promises. 

On the republican side, actions since the 2010 elections have been just the opposite. They campaigned on the promise of getting the deficit under control and their first major action since the election added $800 billion in borrowed money to the deficit in the form of tax cuts to just 2% of the wealthiest segment of the population.

Republicans may believe that if they had held the entire county hostage on behalf of a select few before the November 2 mid-term elections, the outcome would have been very different.

Regardless of political party, it appears that the residents of Capital Hill base their decisions on little more than whether or not it will win them the next election. That is not how the Constitution was designed, but it is one of the ways today’s politicians manipulate it.

Senate republicans block both votes on tax cuts for middle class

Republicans in the Senate defeated two bills on Saturday that would have extended tax cuts for the middle class. The first vote was to extend tax cuts for those earning up to $250,000, the second vote, which immediately followed would have extended the Bush tax cuts for incomes up to a million dollars a year.

The extension of the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires has been a sticking point for the GOP. Last week, Senator Mitch McConnell sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid that said the republicans would block all legislation until tax cuts for the rich was passed.

Although there is no evidence to support suggestions that trickle-down economics creates jobs, the republicans have been claiming that the tax cuts for the top 2% will help the economy.

Since the Regan Administration began lowering tax rates for the wealthy, the budget deficit has grown and the gap between the rich and poor has widened.

“We are now living in a period when more money is concentrated in the hands of a smaller group of people. For the first time since the beginning of the 19th century, the majority of America’s wealth is held by 1/100th of 1% (.01%) of the population,” according to reports.

A Pew Research Group survey in July 2010 said, 74% of Americans believe large banks and financial institutions have been helped more by the federal government’s economic policies. 57% said wealthy people benefited most. Only 27% said the middle class has been helped by US economic policy.