When conservative activists began laying the groundwork months ago for their plan to shut down the federal government, their stated goal was delaying or defunding the Affordable Care Act, the equivalent of landing a haymaker on President Obama’s signature policy achievement. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tromped around Texas railing against the health care law, a banner proclaiming “DEFUND OBAMACARE” hanging behind him.
Yet the ultimate goal of conservative interest groups such as Heritage Action and FreedomWorks has always been the wholesale repeal of Obamacare. Some conservative lawmakers reportedly even insisted on repealing Obamacare as part of a deal to end the government shutdown that began on October 1.
But on Fox News Wednesday morning, Michael Needham, the CEO of Heritage Action, brought some reality to the discussion over repealing Obamacare:
Fox News: With a Democrat in the White House and Harry Reid with the majority in the Senate, what can you do [to stop Obamacare]?
Needham: Well, everybody understands that we’re not going to be able to repeal this law until 2017. And that we have to win the Senate and win the White House.
But right now, it is clear that this bill is not ready for primetime. It is clear that this bill is unfair. The president’s given a waiver to employers; why can’t we give that waiver to the individual people all across America?”
So there you have it. Obamacare isn’t going anywhere until Republicans wrest full control of Congress and the White House. They won’t get a shot at that until the 2016 elections, and by then, with Obamacare fully implemented, it could be too late.
