With Donald Trump’s poll numbers plummeting and Democrats wildly overperforming in special elections, Republicans suddenly care about Americans’ serious affordability problems.
According to The Hill, “some” Republicans “worry the GOP does not have an ambitious enough legislative agenda for the rest of the year aimed at driving down costs, which is expected to be a top issue for voters in November.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was one of the most quoted in the article. He was described as “a leading voice in favor of Republicans taking a second crack at a bill via budget reconciliation,” meaning he wants to pass a bill without any Democratic support on “items they weren’t able to fit into” their Big Ugly Bill passed less than a year ago.
The Hill reports there’s “no consensus” on what that would include. But judging from everything else Republicans have done since President P***y Grabber moved back into the White House, there’s no reason to expect lower-cost health insurance (other than the junk plans Republicans love), rescinding of Medicaid or Medicare cuts or cuts to student loan programs. Or the Trump tariffs that have needlessly driven up prices and uncertainty.
But “top Republicans,” according to The Hill, merely want to sell what they’ve already done.
Kennedy talks like a hayseed but he is in fact a legal scholar who also graduated with honors from Oxford University. So don't tell me he didn't know until now the result of his own party's work. Perhaps as a result of his colleague Sen. Bill Cassidy being in a bit of re-election trouble and Kennedy’s own powers on the line if his party loses control of the Senate, he has developed a concern about everyday Americans’ pocketbooks.
Kennedy accused GOP leadership of telling the public “Don’t believe your own lying checkbooks.” But “It’s their checkbooks … so you’ve got to deal with it. … That’s how you win elections,” he said.
“When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night,” he told The Hill, “They’re worried about the cost of living. … they’re tired of selling blood plasma to go grocery shopping.”
But Kennedy and other jittery Republicans had plenty of opportunity to prevent the very problems that now plague them. Kennedy voted for the Big Ugly Bill that failed to extend health insurance subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and caused premiums to skyrocket for millions. At the same time it gave juicy tax cuts to billionaires.
Kennedy also voted against rescinding Donald Trump’s tariffs. Twice. There’s every reason to expect Kennedy will vote that way again. That’s not counting all the unqualified, unfit Trump nominees he voted for.
Sorry, Senator, you and your fellow Trump puppets in Congress made your own beds here. And that is nothing compared to the deep pain you have caused those of us who are not billionaires.
You will not get one drop of sympathy from me.
