Elizabeth Warren inadvertently makes case for why her plans won’t pass

By | February 3, 2020

DES MOINES, Iowa — With one answer ahead of the caucuses, Sen. Elizabeth Warren inadvertently made the case as to why her ambitious policy proposals would not be able to pass through Congress.

During a campaign stop Sunday morning at Simpson College in Indianola, Warren was asked a reasonable question by a man who believed she had “wonderful plans” but wanted to know how she though she would be able to enact them in the face of stiff Republican resistance.

Warren gave two examples. One had to deal with the bipartisan effort to make hearing aids over the counter, which was actually an example of both parties agreeing to deregulate an industry.

But the other was the successful effort by Democrats to block Republicans from repealing Obamacare.

As she told it, she was heading home on the day of Trump’s inauguration, and thought, “30 million people could lose health insurance by this Friday, because they’ve now got it all, and they ran on it. So it wouldn’t even be a surprise. The Republicans own the House, the Republicans own the Senate, and now they own the White House, and they have run on repealing the Affordable Care Act forever now.”

She went on to describe how protesters mobilized public opposition and fought against repeal efforts, which ended up going down in flames.

But the example of a minority party successfully defeating a major initiative of the ruling party doesn’t prove that she’ll be able to pass her own plans — it demonstrates the exact opposite. It shows that even if she’s elected with Democratic majorities of the House and Senate, Republicans will be able to mount opposition to defeat plans that she’s run on.

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This is especially true for the sweeping plans such as the one she’s proposing — capped off by a healthcare proposal that would require $ 34 trillion in new federal spending and that calls for kicking off 180 million people from their current insurance plans within her first term.

When Republicans were in the opposition, majorities in both the House and Senate voted to repeal Obamacare. In contrast, the Sen. Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All Act” has just 14 co-sponsors, and would lose one if Warren became president.

So repeal had much broader support among Republicans before they took over Washington than socialized health insurance (or other Warren plans) have now. If Democrats successfully blocked repeal, Republicans would be able to thwart her legislative priorities.

Healthcare