Not one of the House Republicans’ real policy priorities enjoys widespread support – setting the stage for backlash at the ballot box
House and Senate Republicans met today to discuss their “agenda” for the first 200 days of the new Republican-controlled Washington. Unfortunately for the American people, the vague proposals and empty promises that came out of their meeting are as worthless as Speaker Ryan’s shiny little pamphlet.
“It’s clear that House Republicans are going to continue pushing an unpopular, ideological agenda that hurts the middle-class,” said DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law. “They wasted no time in voting to rip healthcare away from millions without a replacement plan, defund Planned Parenthood, and gut the independent House ethics watchdog. The backlash to their agenda is already hitting districts across the country and this is just the beginning.”
Here’s a more honest look at the laundry list of House Republicans’ unpopular and tone-deaf priorities for this session:
- Ripping apart the ACA with no replacement. Republicans’ reckless plan to rip healthcare from millions of Americans with no feasible replacement plan that maintains coverage for those who have it, lowers costs, and protects people with preexisting conditions has already created a backlash across the country that will only grow stronger. Recent polling shows that repeal without a replacement is deeply unpopular, and that’s before the devastating effects take-hold. Further, the ACA has never been more popular.
- Defunding Planned Parenthood. When House Republicans voted to repeal the ACA they also voted to defund Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest women’s healthcare provider. A Politico/ Harvard University poll from October showed 58% support for federal funding of Planned Parenthood and an impressive 48% support amongst Trump voters.
- Billing American taxpayers for impractical border wall. Estimates vary, but a border wall is likely to cost tens of billions of dollars and is opposed by the majority of Americans. A Pew study from this month showed that building a wall was the lowest priority (less than half support it) among eight options to address immigration. In another recent poll, 59% opposed the wall while only 37% supported it.
- Privatizing Medicare. Ryan’s career-long obsession with gutting Medicare is very unpopular with Trump voters and toxic with the general public. Only about 20% of Americans want to see the type of changes that Ryan has proposed.
- Assault on ethics. The House Republicans’ first priority was to gut the only independent House watchdog. Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz has also launched unethical threats of subpoenas and taxpayer-funded witch-hunts against the Chairman of the Office of Government Ethics. A recent poll showed that only 16% of people approved of curtailing the power of the House ethics watchdog.