First the Republicans tried to repeal Obamacare (over and over and over again). Then they tried to ignore it, claiming that it would collapse under its own weight (forcing Obama to unilaterally fix a few bugs in its original implementation). But now it looks like they have moved on to the acceptance phase of grief.
Interestingly, the media has almost completely ignored the news that the Republicans are actually introducing legislation to fix a few minor bugs in the ACA:
House Republican leaders are planning to bring up three changes to Obamacare next week — but unlike dozens of prior bills, these are more minor measures that are not expected to be controversial. All three bills essentially fix drafting errors, perceived oversights or unintended consequences in the president’s Affordable Care Act. They have bipartisan support and are scheduled to be considered under a suspension of the rules, which limits debate and requires support from two-thirds of House members — a signal that leaders of both parties do not expect any heated debate.
They hold some political significance, however, because they allow Republicans to push back against the Democrats’ talking point that the GOP is only interested in holding votes to pick at Obamacare’s flaws. They also represent the reality that Obamacare is now fully implemented — and not fixing errors could be more damaging to opponents than being perceived as trying to make Obamacare work better.
Yes, the same Republicans who wanted to eliminate Obamacare so badly they shut down the government, are now working to improve it. Even if they are just doing this for political reasons, I applaud them. After all, doing the right thing for political reasons is better than doing the wrong thing.
