President Donald Trump has been proven to be correct on a number of things since entering office last January.
Among those things is the fact that the swamp runs deep in the nation’s capital. The claim that there even is a swamp to be drained was dismissed as campaign rhetoric by critics, but it has become apparent for all to see that Trump was right on the money.
This was perfectly exemplified by the recent actions of swamp slug Paul Ryan. Although Ryan claims that he cares for the American people and wants to make them prosperous, he had done quite a bit of damage in the past year of thwarting Trump’s agenda at every possible chance.
And now we finally find out the reason why this Republican-In-Name-Only was doing so: because he’s been busy cooking the budget books to ensure that Obama’s most sacred cow stays as law, forever.
The Federalist shares some insight into Ryan is doing.
Fast forward to March 2018, where Ryan, now Speaker of the House, is engaged in his own gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors — not to repeal Obamacare, but to prop it up. As I previously reported, Ryan and the House Republican leadership have proposed using fiscal sleight-of-hand to create fictitious budgetary savings, which they can turn around and spend on corporate welfare to health insurers. Put another way, Ryan wants to raise the spending baseline artificially, so Republicans can lower the spending baseline back to its original level, spending the “savings” on an Obamacare bailout.
Wait for a second – hasn’t the GOP collectively been lighting its hair on fire to call out the inordinate expenses associated with Obamacare? Yep, they most certainly have.
Then why on Earth would there be some behind the scenes wrangling to ensure the faucet remains turned on?
It takes a little closer examination to find some clues, and those clues are rather stomach churning.
Ryan and House Republican leaders don’t want to change the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law — just like they don’t want to pay for the insurer bailout. Such efforts would take time and effort, necessitate legislative transparency — as opposed to closed-door meetings and selective leaks to K Street lobbyists — and require difficult decisions about how to pay for new spending. Why make those tough choices now, when Republicans can just charge the tab for the insurer bailout on to the national credit card, and let the next generation pay the bill instead?
Congressional Republicans spent eight years decrying Obamacare’s fiscal gimmickry, and President Obama’s executive lawlessness. If they follow the example of the House Republican leadership, and engage in their own illegal budgetary gimmicks, they will have no grounds to complain about Democrats’ spending sprees or overreach. And they shouldn’t be surprised if no one believes their claims of fiscal responsibility come November 6.
As much as members of Congress want to believe that they can, they simply can’t have it both ways.
You’re either going to deliver on your promises, or you’re eventually going to be exposed as another swamp creature.
It would be lovely to assume that the confusion about having it both ways only exists on one side of the aisle, but reality continues to slap us in the face to tell us otherwise. In short, Ryan has to go. Now.
Source: The Federalist
