Running On Empty

Representative Steve King represents Ethanol. I mean Iowa. With an almost unlimited supply of taxpayer supported fake fuel it would seem impossible to imagine Rep. King running out of gas. But he has. Representative King has very little energy. Here, in its entirety, is H.R. 132. This is the bill that Mr. King authored and the Republican Congress passed a couple of weeks ago:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the “ObamaCare Repeal Act”.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.

(a) PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.-Effective as of the enactment of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), such Act is repealed, and
The provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such
Act had not been enacted.

(b) HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010,-Effective as of the
Enactment of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-
152), such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act
are restored as if such Act had not been enacted.

That’s it! That is the entire bill. Rep. King ran out of steam after two paragraphs. He didn’t even have enough energy to think what might happen if, G-d forbid, this silly bill became law.

But what if everything the Republicans said about President Obama were true? What if he really didn’t love this country? What if his real goal was to destroy this country? Signing the above act of political theater and intellectual laziness would be the fastest path to anarchy. Signing the Republican bill would have thrown 20% of the American economy and the healthcare of every American into disarray.

The PPACA is a poorly written law that has both helped and hurt many Americans. Some of you, my readers, now have insurance and access to healthcare. The elimination of underwriting, coverage for preexisting conditions, and tax credit subsidies allowed many of you to buy policies. The increased premiums and poorly designed regulations have knocked some of my clients out of the market. Love or hate the law, we all acknowledge the reality of the law. And since the law exists – rules, regulations and paperwork – the only way forward is to CHANGE the law. Rework the rules. Reengineer the regulations. Modify to a point where the law might not even be recognizable. That is possible and some of the changes might even be desirable.

There are only two problems with changing Obamacare as opposed to simply passing the mindless repeal of the law. The first is that the eventual law might still give President Barack Obama credit for getting something accomplished. The other problem is that fixing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would be a lot of work. Real work. And Steve King doesn’t have the energy for that. When it comes to ideas, Rep. King is running on empty.

DAVE