Governing is Complicated

Very Complicated

The complete collapse of the American Health Care Act shows that Republicans in Washington are still stuck on being the party of "No" and have not learned how to govern.

When you have solid majorities in both houses of Congress and a sympathetic, but unaware, president, it should be easy to pass legislation you think important. Speaker Ryan learned that "just say no," does not translate into legislative enactments that actually accomplish something.

The AHCA was flawed from the beginning. It was not a bill designed to provide Americans with affordable health care coverage with lower premiums, but one designed to continue the GOP redistribution of wealth to the rich by means of more tax credits. It was designed to put more money back into the Treasury to help fund even more tax credits to the rich when the GOP tries to tackle tax reform.

Given the ideological fractures in the House of Representatives' Republican caucus and their inability to compromise even among themselves, there was little hope that the bill would pass. The far-right Freedom Caucus would never vote for anything short of a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act that leaves everyone to fund their own health care without government assistance or involvement. They held their ground, leaving those in the GOP's center and center-right with no place to go. Without significant shifts towards an actual universal healthcare bill, there was not going to be any help from Democrats.

Speaker Ryan, who has had seven years to draft a workable alternative to the Affordable Care Act, did not even start until this year. He pinned his hopes on the ultimate deal maker sitting in the White House to strong arm and cajole those opposed into falling in line. Try as he might, President Trump could not close the deal.

When Ryan ended up pulling the bill before there could even be a vote, he announced that "Obamacare remains the law of the land." The reactions were swift and merciless. Repeal and replace was the single unifying theme of the last election cycle and they just could not pull it off. The blame game looked to deflect responsibility away from Trump and Ryan but appeared to fall on deaf ears. The Freedom Caucus refused to accept any part of the responsibility, claiming Ryan just is not conservative enough. Democrats rallied and pushed again for a single payer, Medicare for all plan. Trump has declared war on the Freedom Caucus and Ryan rejected Trump's suggestion that they could work with Democrats on health care. Trump and Ryan turned their backs on the failure and vowed to move on to tax reform legislation.

Tax code reform has been on everyone's radar for over 30 years with nothing getting done except minor tweaks and more loop holes for corporate interests. With no one willing to seriously look at military spending or any of the other required costs of running the country, there is an insatiable demand for revenue. The government has already taxed and regulated  the middle class into a terminal condition so there is no help to be found there. Businesses, corporations and the wealthy keep demanding bigger slices of the pie so there is no help there either. The vanished savings from repeal and replace will make the task even more difficult. It is no wonder that Trump's claims that tax reform will be easy are being received with more than a little skepticism. 

Tax reform will bring out more dark money from lobbyists and super PACs than ever before. All will pitch their entitlements to this tax benefit or the next and the congressional lackeys who have not met a lobbyist with a check they did not like will swoon once more before delivering more back to these benefactors. The end result will add volumes to the tax code making the rich richer and the poor and working stiffs poorer.

The GOP agenda has run aground on the rocks of governing. Even with majorities, our system of government requires compromise in the middle before progress can be made. If he is to survive the meat grinder, Speaker Ryan is going to be forced to forge coalitions in the center in both parties. Hopefully, he will be up to the task. If not, it will be a rough pull to avoid a GOP disaster in the 2018 mid-terms.