With the recent shutdown of the US government and potential Default feeling like a distant threat once again, it seems our professional media outlets and our political leaders are trying to draw our attention back to the controversies surrounding the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Clearly, the American People need to know the Obama Administration is trying to address the faults in the online version of the Health Insurance Marketplace while improving Obamacare needs to remain atop the agenda. That said, our focus must be on creating a bipartisan budget with a long-term deficit reduction plan and a significant restructuring of our tax code.
For our legislators to be successful in this task, the American People must pay attention, so we can shape the effort and provide enough pressure to ensure a meaningful, bipartisan solution arises. If important issues like healthcare reform steal the focus, our politicians will be drawn to the easy political points won through divisive politics. Issues like healthcare reform, immigration reform, energy initiatives, etc., must see progress in the background; after all, once the Budget is squared away, our Legislators must start dealing with the many other major issues our Nation is facing. Accordingly, our path to fiscal responsibility starts by focusing on solutions that do not provoke partisan bickering. For example, the Government Accountability Office has identified tens to hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, abuse, and fraud that can be addressed without much controversy. Democrats and Republicans will then need to upset each other by targeting the spending preferences of the other side; however, they should not target each others’ top priorities at this time. Lengthy debates on issues with a significant potential to cause controversy will only derail the process, thus such issues are best dealt in the next rounds of deal making. Our legislative leaders do not need to solve every fiscal issue in one sitting. They need to break the process up into smaller, manageable bits. Right now, they just need to reach a big enough deal to pass a Budget and target the largest areas for cutting spending/raising revenues. Clearly, this will be a challenge as there are many things going on around the world that impact the US while professional media outlets need to provide viewers with material that holds their focus. In too many respects, we have become a society that only pays attentions to what is happening at the moment in the narrowest terms possible. Meanwhile, time is a precious resource that most people spend decisively. Quite frankly, the average US Citizen is only going to have so much time at the end of the day to deal with his/her democratic responsibilities, thus professional news outlets need to ensure the Budget debate makes it into the news cycle on a daily basis. It is the most pressing news story for the next few months. The implementation of Obamacare is very important while it certainly impacts the American People in a very big way, yet our leaders in Washington need to get off the political trail and focus on issues related to the Budge. This means Obamacare needs to take a backseat unless there is something government can do to improve it immediately without it becoming an easy distraction. President Obama should probably delay the individual mandate once it becomes viable for this reason along with the fact that the employer mandate has been delayed and the reality that there are too many technical issues with the Marketplace. Moreover, the US government needs to focus on fiscal matters for the new few months.
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Although the 535 members of Congress and the President find themselves under a new countdown to reach bipartisan compromises on the Budget and other related issues, the Obamacare fight continues in the background. Republicans have decided to fight smarter and sneakier while Democrats anticipate growing support for provisions of the Affordable Care act coming into effect will protect their legislative accomplishment. In essence, Republicans frame their policy stances as part of a war against the Left and this will be their undoing.
To be blunt, viewing policy and political differences as a war is completely unhelpful, even self-destructive. Certainly, Democrats view many initiatives of the Right in the same manner, but neither side is correct in doing so. Most Americans support liberal policies on some issues and conservative policies on others. It is the activists, i.e. someone constantly in need of a cause to fight and an agenda to push, who can never be satisfied with workable solutions. The bulk of the American People just want policies that work. Quite frankly, whether those policies are liberal or conservative has little to do with what concerns most US Americans. This is why there is a tendency of politicians to illegitimately reframe policies as liberal or conservative as doing so allows the respective groups to adopt sensible solutions from the other side of the spectrum. Consequently, the real fight with Obamacare resolves around how well the set of policies works. When Republicans say they will win the war against Obamacare through attrition, it does nothing to help the American People. In fact, it makes things worse, because it serves as another example of the GOP simply undermining government and that is worse that a bad policy. Republicans continually tell the world they are going to dismantle Obamacare then complain when Democrats will not accept any of their “commonsense” reforms that they claim will supposedly improve the policies. Quite frankly, the more the Republicans try to undermine Obamacare, the more guarded Democrats become. “Little pig, little pig, let me in….,” says the Big Bad Wolf. So long as the goal of the GOP is to undermine Democratic policies, the Left will allow the Right to make progress on its priorities, thus Obamacare, among other policies, is not reformed to the benefit of the American People and the GOP accomplishes nothing aside from making government more dysfunctional. Furthermore, Republicans looking to undo the supposed scourge they claim Obamacare to be could focus on making it work or offer the public a comparative replacement legislative effort. Repeal then perhaps replace was always a failed effort; whereas, replace and repeal could work if a better option is put forth. That said, opponents of Obamacare should offer sustainable policy corrections that will not undermine the overall Affordable Care Act. For example, repealing the Medical Device Tax would create a deficit, thus Republicans need to balance it will some other source of revenue in order to assure Democrats their efforts are not aimed at simply destabilizing the healthcare reform law and depriving the American People of the benefits Obamcare provides. That said, there needs to be more transparency on the effects of the tax and how the industry operates. One of the biggest problems the GOP has is a tendency to portray itself as a special interest group motivated solely by political gain. Back in 2010, Republicans won back the House, because they convinced voters that they were the alternative to Democratic Party. Being the Alternative Party, especially when you end up making government less functional and disrupting people’s lives, is a losing strategy. After all, alternatives to alternatives tend to materialize. The Republicans then made the 2012 election about making Obama a one-term president while they have again decided their mission is to define their Party as against the policy of Obamacare. If too many People derive too much benefit from Obamacare and/or see the GOP as even more destructive than the Democrats, Republicans will weaken. Digressing back to the issue at hand, Republicans target the individual mandate, because it is deeply unpopular and scares voters. Truthfully, President Obama probably would have delayed the individual mandate had Republicans not politicized the issue and planned to use its delay as a means of undermining the long-term viability of the Affordable Care Act. In fact, he may do just that once enough people have utilized the Health Insurance Marketplace, so it can become viable. The technical issues with the Marketplace may well delay this decision, but he should delay the individual mandate in tandem with the business mandate, especially given the issues coming to light. It only makes sense. Looking at the Marketplace itself, the technical issues experienced by visits to healthcare.gov are not necessarily a fault of the overall policy that is Obamacare. In many respects, they are analogous to the faulty construction several major contractors delivered as part of the American taxpayer funded reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. These situations demonstrate our government’s need to better manage and monitor contractors while they clearly exemplifying the lack of accountability the US government fosters, which the GOP helps encourage when it undermines the legislative process. In addition, government websites are stereotypically subpar. Although this cliché has been eroded over the past few years thanks to efforts to improve government websites, some bugs should have been expected and the American People need to understand the technical reasons for these faults, so there is accountability to ensure fewer future problems. That said, the website has little to do with any perceived faults in the overall healthcare law. Moreover, Republicans need to put their name on Obamacare in order to demonstrate they are willing and able to make government more functional. While the American People accepted obstructionism in 2010 to counteract the overzealous agenda of the Left, the mounting damage done by Republican strategies to undermine Obama has become far more threatening than Obamacare and the Leftist agenda. If the GOP can demonstrate it has the ability to make government more functional by working with Democrats on major issues the Budget, tax reform, and their devil Obamacare, they have a chance at reviving their brand. More importantly, the US can move beyond politics to engineer policies that address the interests of the American People. If Republicans can be part of the solution instead of the problem, they have a future in America. Passing a Debt Ceiling increase in the eleventh hour, the US Congress managed to avert an economic catastrophe with relevantly little damage done. Given the latest government shutdown and the infamous Sequester, among other drastic measures taken to force our government to address critical issues, it is genuinely surprising that the Legislative Branch actually avoided a Default. Quite frankly, the entire situation is unsettling. It truly shows how unresponsive the US government has become. We should question the ability of the Federal government to address key issues.
Furthermore, we call the measure, which passed the House late Wednesday night, a deal, yet it actually is not. Ensuring the obligations of the US government are paid is a responsibility of our National leaders. There is no compromise in doing what both sides of the aisle were supposed to do. Similarly, it is the responsibility of our legislators to pass a balanced Budget that accurately represents the true costs of governance and the broad interests of the American People. Obviously, the failure to pass a continuing resolution and the ensuing government shutdown resulted from an inability of Republicans to accept an honest Budget and an unwillingness on behalf of Democrats to embrace the need to balance the Budget. Now, our Legislators must turn to crafting a Budget Deal that should alleviate the need for Debt Ceiling increases. Unfortunately, many Republican continue to feel the best option to addressing our Nation’s problems is to force their solutions through and reject the process of compromise. On the other side, many Democrats, especially President Obama, have already shown a willingness to make concussions to Republicans, yet the political winds suggest Democrats have an upper hand in negotiations. Consequently, the Left may well be tempted to exploit the vulnerabilities of the Right and demand truly unacceptable concessions to push a far-Left agenda. This would make willing Republican recoil to hardliner stances. That said, the leadership and the majorities of both sides might understand they are at a critical moment in history that demands responsible government action. With the latest fiasco soon fading into a background of ever escalating drama, the American People need to see our government start functioning once again. After Senate leaders voiced much hope that a potential deal to reopen the Federal government and avert a default on US Debt was in the works, House Leader John Boehner decided he could not accept a bill that would exclude the demands of Tea Party members. A pessimistic view is that the GOP Congressman has decided to put Party above Country. Given that the Democrats are simply seeking to reopen the government and avert a Default while they appear to willing to agree to negotiations on the Budget and tax code in exchange, it seems Boehner is failing to look out for the more pressing, broader interests of the American People over political concerns.
Then again, Boehner could be motivated by more factors that are somewhat more virtuous. When the House Speaker took control of the House of Representatives, he pledged to open the legislative process in the wake of an election where Republicans charged Democrats were locking out opponents of their agenda. In accordance, he may well feel ignoring the views of the Tea Party wing of the GOP out of convenience is a betrayal to his responsibilities as House Speaker. That said, the House Speaker is the leader of the House, not just his Party. As such, he must open the legislative process to both Republican and Democratic members. This does not mean appeasing Democrats or the Tea Party on every critical issue. Instead, it means Mr. Boehner must open the legislative process to solutions that best address the interests of the American People by balancing the views of their representatives with the responsibilities of the Legislative Branch. In this case, allowing for a clean continuing resolution and short-term increase in the debt ceiling with formal negotiations on budgetary issues is that solution. Not only does this solution allow the Legislative Branch to act responsibly in a functional manner, it addresses the most pressing interests of the American People while setting in motion a process that can resolve other relevant issues that also concern the Tea Party. Most People will not remember John Boehner and the Republicans backing down from a handful of concessions that could have been gained via more responsible, more productive means; everyone will remember a Default. A constant criticism of the Obama Administration has been its supposed lack of leadership on foreign affairs. It is important to remember the world is experiencing great change, especially in the Middle East. Accordingly, there are a great number of unknowns and shifting issues that must be addressed through novel policy initiatives. Rapid adaption is a daunting challenge in itself and past Administrations have lagged behind when the US has had greater discretion over what issues we wanted to engage.
Unfortunately, the Executive Branch, which has traditionally taken on the role of foreign policy advocate for the American People, is far too busy dealing with domestic issues. The more dysfunctional Congress becomes, the more effort the President must invest in either pushing legislation through the Legislative Branch or trying to unilaterally address internal issues. Looking at the current government shutdown and the impending Debt Default, President Obama had been scheduled to visit with leaders in Asia as part of a larger effort to bolster diplomatic and economic relationships with key allies. Meanwhile, the US is also dealing with the Syrian Civil War, the dismantling of the Assad Regime’s chemical weapons arsenal, the stalled Egyptian power transition, Mexico’s ongoing drug war, China’s rise as a superpower, the end of the Afghanistan War, the restarting of the Korean War and so on. In fact, the United States had started to make progress with Iran on its nuclear ambitions, yet the task has fallen to the European Union with the devil of the details delaying progress. Moreover, the US cannot take the lead on world affairs so long as the US Congress continually shuts down when it tries to pass laws that fulfill the most basic responsibilities of government, let alone the backlog of critical issues our representatives have neglected over the years. |
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April 2020
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