All three of New Jersey’s Republican congressmen – Reps. Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith, and Tom Kean Jr. – supported the bill to open the government with no evident hesitation.
It was signed into law by President Donald Trump soon afterwards.
When they got their way — a bill to open the government without extending the subsidies — New Jersey’s nine Democrat representatives, joined their GOP colleagues, all of them, to vote for it.
Before the vote, Republican representatives refused to even discuss options to help families afford their healthcare coverage. They stayed home to avoid doing so.
Now what they are concerned more about, though, is a mid-term backlash that may come in response to their previous votes against extending the subsidies.
In short, they are less certain about their chances of being re-elected in 2026.
Their prospects are not looking so good. So, they are trying to switch gears, while, ahem, they wait on a new plan to replace the Affordable Care act, set to expire at the end of the year.
Seriously? Didn’t’ they just close the government to avoid extending those subsidies?
Here is Van Drew, saying that until his party is ready to present a better plan, they must act at least temporarily to preserve the tax credits that bolster the current law:
“I don’t like Obamacare….but there’s a big but with that—if we’re not ready, then we need to, for a year or a year and a half, renew the subsidy.“
He can’t be serious. We’ve been waiting for alternatives to the Affordable Care Act since it became law in 2010.
It’s reasonable to conclude by this time that there will not be a replacement as the ACA has become entrenched and more citizens have come to rely on it. The subsidies, in particular, have been hugely successful: In the four years since their inception, the new and expanded credits helped ACA Marketplace enrollment explode from 11.4 million to 24.3 million.
Canceling them will hurt those who rely on them and they are letting their representatives know about it. And, they, the representatives, those that have opposed the subsidies and the healthcare program itself all along are acknowledging that something needs to be done…..for now.
A bipartisan bill to extend the subsidies, for example, provides that they last only for one year, conveniently enough, ending after the mid-term elections!
But most GOP representatives are opposed to extending the subsidies; they outnumber those of their colleagues who fear the loss of their positions and want to extend them.
Americans needing help, any interest? Nah, not the focus, not the problem.
Of course, let it be known that when it comes to helping American citizens deal with the increasing costs and pressures on them, the GOP doesn’t even try to be with them; it’s with the well-off who want tax cuts and other benefits.
Healthcare-related challenges, on several fronts, are putting families in crisis. And, the Republican-dominated Congress, well, it’s having little, if anything to say but, for those who face re-election, saying what may be needed to stay seated.
Will Rogers, the columnist known for his political wit and wisdom, offered his insight in an apt observation, in March, 1931:
“Ain’t it wonderful to have something come up in the country where you can find out just how many political cowards there are?”