For the past seven years, a mainstay of the Republican platform has been the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as "Obamacare." Now with majorities in both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the past few weeks have seen multiple attempts to push health care legislation through the Senate. They have ranged from revamps of the American Health Care Act, which originally failed to pass through the House, to just "skinny repeals," which just aim to repeal the ACA without putting a replacement program in place.
The process of these legislative pushes has been controversial, one reason for this being the drafting of the bills being voted on has been occurring in secret among only select members of the Republican Party. Another has been the erratic schedule of trying to force some form of health care legislation through as soon as possible.
Now if you've been paying attention to Congress for the past six years, this may seem to be a breath of fresh air, as recently we've witnessed some of the least productive legislative bodies in history with record levels of stagnation. So trying to get something done whatever the cost is a good thing, right?
Not necessarily. While the last half a decade has been very unproductive, that can be accounted to the increased usage of the filibuster, a legislative tool that allows members of the legislative body in question to require a supermajority to grant cloture, essentially holding the bill hostage unless demands can be met or the members performing the filibuster fail to hold the floor long enough to deny a vote.
While these obstructive tactics have their place in the legislative process, they only present one level of "slowness" that most are probably used to after its overuse over the last several congresses. But the process of drafting, debating, and implementing any sort of legislation by any party regardless of majority/minority standing isn't supposed to be a race to the finish. Formally changing parts of our republic on a federal level is supposed to be a slower, deliberate process that includes debates and some forms of compromise where needed.
Instead, we're watching future systems being designed behind closed doors that aren't even succeeding in rallying the votes of those in the party that's drafting it. On top of that, President Trump has been repeatedly blaming the Democrats in Congress for the failure of these bills they weren't included in creating or in any way consulted on.
Luckily enough, there have been increasing calls in the center of each party for compromise and cooperation in fixing the health care system, whether that be through repeal/replace or repair of the Affordable Care Act. Whether or not these calls will be followed by action is unclear, and in many ways depends on the leadership of the two parties' ability to cooperate. Failure to do say may well end in insurrection.
