The Post’s ViewHouse Republicans are failing Americans in their effort to kill Obamacare
- 625<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_allComments.html> - Share to Facebook<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions#> - Share on Twitter<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions#> - Share on LinkedIn<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions#> - Add to PersonalPost<http://personalpost.washingtonpost.com/c?add_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fopinions%2Fhouse-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare%2F2013%2F10%2F01%2F49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html> - Share via Email<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_email.html> - Print Article<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_print.html> - More<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions#> By Editorial Board<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-posts-view/2011/12/07/gIQAoEIscO_page.html> , Published: October 1 AMERICANS’ RESPECT for their Congress has, sad to say, diminished in recent years<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/325615-poll-10-percent-of-people-approve-of-congress>. But citizens still expect a minimal level of competence and responsibility: Pay the bills and try not to embarrass us in front of the world. By those minimal standards, this Congress is failing. More specifically, the Republican leaders of the House of Representatives are failing. They should fulfill their basic duties to the American people or make way for legislators who will. Washington Post Editorials <http://www.washingtonpost.com/the-posts-view/2011/12/07/gIQAoEIscO_page.html> Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the editorial board. News reporters and editors never contribute to editorial board discussions, and editorial board members don’t have any role in news coverage. *Read more<http://www.washingtonpost.com/the-posts-view/2011/12/07/gIQAoEIscO_page.html> * Latest Editorials Keeping our promise to Iraqis who helped<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/iraqi-and-afghan-translators-deserve-visas-they-were-promised/2013/10/01/a3a5cec6-2acb-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html>[image: Keeping our promise to Iraqis who helped]<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/iraqi-and-afghan-translators-deserve-visas-they-were-promised/2013/10/01/a3a5cec6-2acb-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html> Editorial Board OCT 1 Translators risked their lives for us; it’s our turn to help them. Moroccan king steps back from reforms<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/moroccan-king-backs-away-from-reforms/2013/10/01/27ecfe78-2ac4-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html>[image: Moroccan king steps back from reforms]<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/moroccan-king-backs-away-from-reforms/2013/10/01/27ecfe78-2ac4-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html> Editorial Board OCT 1 Jailing of journalist is attempt to stifle dissent. Republicans have failed Americans<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html>[image: Republicans have failed Americans]<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html> Editorial Board OCT 1 Congress should fulfill their basic duties or make way for legislators who will. We don’t come to that view as rabid partisans. On many of the issues stalemating Washington, we find plenty of blame to go around. We’ve criticized President Obama’s reluctance to pursue entitlement reform<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-obamas-time-to-lead-on-entitlements/2012/11/27/0430b112-38c8-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html>. The last time the country reached the debt ceiling, we urged both sides to compromise<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/from-boehner-and-obama-good-news-for-those-who-want-a-fiscal-cliff-deal/2012/12/18/7ec3edaa-4957-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html> on revenue and spending in the interest of long-term fiscal soundness. This time, fiscal responsibility isn’t even a topic. Instead, Republicans have shut much of the government<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-braces-for-the-first-shutdown-of-the-national-government-in-17-years/2013/09/30/977ebca2-29bd-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html> in what they had to know was a doomed effort to derail the Affordable Care Act<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/republican-hard-liners-block-strategy-to-avoid-federal-government-shutdown/2013/09/26/ae905f9e-26e4-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html>. That law<http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/navigating-the-affordable-care-act-whose-health-insurance-exchanges-open-tuesday/2013/09/25/c1c7dcaa-2229-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html>, in case you've forgotten in the torrent of propaganda, is hardly revolutionary. It is an effort to extend health insurance to some of the 40 million or so people in this country who have none. It acts through the existing private-insurance market. Republicans tried to block its passage and failed; they hoped to have it declared unconstitutional and failed; and they did their best to toss Mr. Obama out of the White House after one term in order to strangle it in its cradle, and they failed again. They’re entitled to keep trying, of course — though it would be nice if someday they remembered their promise to come up with an alternative proposal<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/03/the-republican-plan-for-replacing-obamacare-doesnt-replace-obamacare/>. But their methods now are beyond the pale. After months of refusing to confer with the Senate on a budget<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/budget-conference-republicans_n_4020621.html> proposal, they have demanded a conference committee to keep the government funded for six weeks. They are rejecting a budget extension that includes limits on federal spending — the so-calledsequester<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/they-said-the-sequester-would-be-scary-mostly-they-were-wrong/2013/06/30/73bdbbfc-da7a-11e2-8ed8-7adf8eba6e9a_story.html> — that they insisted on and that Democrats oppose. In a particularly shabby piece of faux populism, their final proposal Monday night included a measure to deprive congressional aides<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-braces-for-the-first-shutdown-of-the-national-government-in-17-years/2013/09/30/977ebca2-29bd-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html>, many of whom earn considerably less than the esteemed members, of the subsidy to purchase health insurance that employers routinely provide. That measure was emblematic of Republicans’ heedlessness of the impact of their actions on ordinary Americans and their government. Incoming FBI Director James B. Comey wasstunned to discover<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-fbi-director-james-b-comey-stunned-by-impact-of-sequestration-on-agents-in-the-field/2013/09/27/0af002d8-2791-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html> that his agency has had to stop training recruits, close criminal cases and even deny gasoline money to agents because of budget cutbacks, as The Post’s Sari Horwitz reported. Now, with the shutdown, 800,000 workers are being furloughed, and thousands of others are being ordered to work but may not get paid. And these effects pale beside the economic havoc that would be caused by a failure to honor the government’s financial obligations<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/18/if-we-get-a-debt-ceiling-crisis-its-because-republican-voters-want-one/>, a prospect that looms just a couple of weeks ahead. Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Budget Committee chairman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and their colleagues may be in a difficult political position. Honestly, we don’t much care. They need to reopen the government and let it pay its bills. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Center for Good Governance" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/center-for-good-governance. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
