Welcome Back to the Republican House of Representatives & Election Year 2016:
“With yet another vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood this week, House Republicans have wasted no time in showing that 2016 will mean more of the same policies and attacks that harm women, hardworking families and other massive voting blocs. This is far from a fresh start, and Republicans up and down the ticket will suffer from this backwards, super-conservative approach to 2016 in the general election,” said Meredith Kelly of the DCCC.
ICYMI: Expectations low for dealmaking in U.S. Congress before election
Bloomberg
By Billy House and Kathleen Miller
January 4, 2015
Don’t expect an avalanche of big legislative accomplishments by Congress in 2016, with leaders already lowering expectations and political parties sharpening their contrasts for a year in which the White House and Senate control are up for grabs.
First thing up for the new session: hitting President Barack Obama with a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s core provisions that he will veto. Republicans who won the Senate in 2014 to complement their House majority are eager to show voters they’re still focused on the health-care law even though this vote — like more than 50 previous ones in the House — won’t succeed in repealing Obamacare.
…
Yet, when it came to deciding what to do first on Jan. 5 — the opening day of the new House session — Republican leaders led by new Speaker Paul Ryan scheduled a House Rules Committee meeting to tee up one of their most divisive and familiar measures.
…
But the media can’t be blamed for Ryan’s decision to set a partisan tone for the new session through an immediate vote to repeal Obamacare and send the measure to the president’s desk. The more likely inspiration is a need to placate fellow Republicans’ ideological demands.
…
John Zogby, a pollster based in New York state, said, “I think the GOP leadership went about as far as it could with passage of the budget and spending legislation.” He predicted Ryan and other Republican leaders will find themselves still “strangled” by the demands of conservatives, including the House Freedom Caucus, “and the recent memory of high-profile members who were defeated by Tea Party candidates.”
…
Full Article here