The wingnuts Hatch An Illegal Scheme To Repeal The Affordable Care Act

The wingnuts want to use the budgetary process to repeal the ACA. Repealing the ACA would increase the budget deficit, which means that it’s illegal to use the budgetary process to repeal Obamacare.

According to The Hill,

The wingnuts in Washington are adamant that Senate repugicans should pass a full repeal of the healthcare law next year, even if it means a certain veto from President Obama.

With Senate Democrats likely to filibuster any stand-alone repeal bill, wingnuts say Mitch McConnell (r-Ky.) should use a procedural maneuver known as reconciliation to muscle through a bill with 51 votes.

There are two problems with this strategy. First, President Obama would veto any budget resolution that cut funding or repealed the ACA. Secondly, the Byrd Rule prevents lawmakers from adding anything to the budget that increases the deficit. Since the CBO has already concluded that repealing the ACA would increase the budget deficit by $109 billion, Senate repugicans can’t legally use the budgetary process to repeal Obamacare.

In order words, repugicans are trying to pressure Mitch McConnell into illegally repealing the ACA.

The wingnuts who are pressuring McConnell don’t care about facts, reality, or legality. They want Obamacare repealed. If Senate repugicans pursue this strategy, they will be setting the country up for another government shutdown over Obamacare. The president would veto the budget; repugicans wouldn’t have enough votes to override the vote, so they will either have to back down and give up their ACA repeal or shut the government down.

No matter how one slices it, the repugican hatred of Obamacare is going put McConnell and company in a very sticky situation. The Senate majority will already be in jeopardy in 2016. Another government shutdown over the ACA could big a step towards returning control of the Senate back to the Democrats.