Today the ObamaCare health exchanges go up. Meanwhile, the federal government appears to be shutting down. Once again, Washington’s got it completely backward.
We’ve long been skeptical of the defunding strategy, for one reason: Republicans don’t have the votes in the Senate. In their rejection of various House resolutions Monday, Senate Democrats made clear they are perfectly willing to live with all the pain ObamaCare inflicts — so long as it is inflicted on everyone else, whether it be through the individual mandate or the tax on medical devices.
Near the end of Monday evening, Republicans had finally embraced something they should have begun with: the Vitter amendment. Under this amendment, members of Congress and their staffs would be required to buy their coverage the same way every other American on the ObamaCare exchanges will — i.e., without an offsetting subsidy from their employers, which in Congress’ case comes from taxpayers.
Everything about this amendment is a plus. Instead of focusing debate on a shutdown, it would at least force members to explain why, if ObamaCare is so good, they need a special subsidy for themselves.
As for defunding or delaying ObamaCare, a successful Vitter amendment gives the GOP something it hasn’t had for a long time: leverage on everything from the debt limit to the continuing resolution.
Assuming Congress wants out from ObamaCare — the safest bet in Washington — the Vitter amendment would offer Democrats a deal. You want relief from ObamaCare? The deal is you only get the relief you give everyone else. The argument for special perks would be a hard one for Democrats to sustain.
And if Democrats continue to prove themselves willing to shut down government rather than live by the same ObamaCare rules they set for others, doesn’t that tell Americans what this fight is really about — and put the GOP in a much better position for the battle ahead?