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| On Policy, Republicans Find They Cannot Beat Something With Nothing | On Policy, Republicans Find They Cannot Beat Something With Nothing |
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| WASHINGTON — For years, congressional Republicans have promised that their policy ideas, paired with a Republican in the White House, would lead to an instant obliteration of President Barack Obama’s health care law and the advent of something less expensive, more efficient and delivering better care. | WASHINGTON — For years, congressional Republicans have promised that their policy ideas, paired with a Republican in the White House, would lead to an instant obliteration of President Barack Obama’s health care law and the advent of something less expensive, more efficient and delivering better care. |
| In the wee hours of Friday morning, that plan unraveled on the floor of the Senate, undermined by a toxic brew of a poorly assembled bill, the undeniable rising popularity of the current health care law among many Republican governors and voters, and a president who undermined their efforts at every turn, spending the final crucial days threatening the senators he was trying to woo while attacking an attorney general they admire. | In the wee hours of Friday morning, that plan unraveled on the floor of the Senate, undermined by a toxic brew of a poorly assembled bill, the undeniable rising popularity of the current health care law among many Republican governors and voters, and a president who undermined their efforts at every turn, spending the final crucial days threatening the senators he was trying to woo while attacking an attorney general they admire. |
| Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, tried after the failed health care vote to lay the blame at the feet of Democrats, whom he criticized for not participating “in a serious way” in the process that he pointedly prevented them from joining. But after six months of repeated failures to pass any meaningful legislation during what is traditionally the most productive time for a party with unified control of both the White House and Congress, it is Republicans who are clearly flailing. | Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, tried after the failed health care vote to lay the blame at the feet of Democrats, whom he criticized for not participating “in a serious way” in the process that he pointedly prevented them from joining. But after six months of repeated failures to pass any meaningful legislation during what is traditionally the most productive time for a party with unified control of both the White House and Congress, it is Republicans who are clearly flailing. |
| Once architects of conservative policy, they appear short of fresh ideas, left to try and find often incoherent compromises between the hard-right that helped bring them to power and the populism that fueled President Trump’s victory last year. They talked incessantly about “patient-centered health care,” but it was a slogan that never had much meaning. At the end of the day, their only coherent argument for excising the health care law was because they said they would for seven years. | |
| “This is what you get when you have a president with no fixed principles, indifferent to policy and ignorant of the legislative process,” said Charlie Sykes, a veteran Republican operative and former radio host. He added, “There’s a difference between whiteboards and legislating in the real world. It’s hard to take away benefits once conferred.” | “This is what you get when you have a president with no fixed principles, indifferent to policy and ignorant of the legislative process,” said Charlie Sykes, a veteran Republican operative and former radio host. He added, “There’s a difference between whiteboards and legislating in the real world. It’s hard to take away benefits once conferred.” |
| Many of the party leaders appear to remain out of step with their own voters, who took seriously Mr. Trump’s warm embrace of some government entitlement programs, even as Mr. Trump abandoned those notions in recent months. While some conservative pundits attacked their failure to repeal the health care law this spring, scant protests rose up from the right to counter the thousands of Affordable Care Act supporters who appealed to lawmakers for months to maintain much of the law. | Many of the party leaders appear to remain out of step with their own voters, who took seriously Mr. Trump’s warm embrace of some government entitlement programs, even as Mr. Trump abandoned those notions in recent months. While some conservative pundits attacked their failure to repeal the health care law this spring, scant protests rose up from the right to counter the thousands of Affordable Care Act supporters who appealed to lawmakers for months to maintain much of the law. |
| Congressional Republicans, especially in the House, are hamstrung by legislative inexperience. Many of them have never served under a Republican president or passed major policy reforms that require at least token bipartisan support, and remain in chin-out oppositional mode. | Congressional Republicans, especially in the House, are hamstrung by legislative inexperience. Many of them have never served under a Republican president or passed major policy reforms that require at least token bipartisan support, and remain in chin-out oppositional mode. |
| Members of both parties say that the only path forward for health care — and indeed any legislation that can get to Mr. Trump’s desk — will now have to be a product of bipartisan efforts, with moderate members in both chambers who voted against the repeal efforts perhaps newly empowered to help fuel deals. | Members of both parties say that the only path forward for health care — and indeed any legislation that can get to Mr. Trump’s desk — will now have to be a product of bipartisan efforts, with moderate members in both chambers who voted against the repeal efforts perhaps newly empowered to help fuel deals. |
| “I believe we have an opportunity now to have discussions on durable, sustainable reforms,” said Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania who rejected the House efforts earlier this year to repeal the law. “I think moderate voices will be important in health care just as they already have been on budgets, appropriations bills and anything else that needs to be enacted into law.” | “I believe we have an opportunity now to have discussions on durable, sustainable reforms,” said Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania who rejected the House efforts earlier this year to repeal the law. “I think moderate voices will be important in health care just as they already have been on budgets, appropriations bills and anything else that needs to be enacted into law.” |