As the GOP retreats from the effects of the devastating budget negotiations that ended the federal shutdown, what was once an ambitious agenda three years ago has become nothing but one political crisis after another.
Getting rid of ObamaCare was only the top of the list. Three years ago, Republicans had swept into office with a way to “remake the U.S. government,” according to an article by David A. Fahrenthold in the Washington Post.
They wanted to stop funding for PBS and Planned Parenthood; they also voted to remove limits on greenhouse gas emissions by the EPA. Republicans looked to change Medicare and move back regulations on mountaintop-removal mining and Chesapeake Bay.
A few national crises later — such as the shutdown threat of April 2011, fights over the debt ceiling and the late-2012 “fiscal cliff” showdown — the GOP record is one solid win, one significant loss and a long list of missed opportunities. Republicans got their cuts in government spending, but ObamaCare is still the law.
“You changed the conversation the first time” when House Republicans threatened a government shutdown, Michael D. Tanner of the libertarian Cato Institute told the Post, but they never moved beyond a crisis strategy.
It leads some insiders wondering if the Affordable Care Act survives, House Republicans might not be able to focus on anything else. The GOP dislike of ObamaCare could leave the party engaging in nothing but distracting battles and other unwinnable fights.
