Still Waiting
Politico's Glenn ThrushWhere's the GOP health care alternative?
House Democrats are marking today as the 100-day anniversary of House Republicans promising to produce their own alternative health reform bill as part of their larger effort to shed the Party of No label.
"I guarantee you we will provide you with a bill," said Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the point man on the alternative plan, on June 17.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) tells POLITICO, "It's been 100 days since they promised they would unveil their own proposals -- where are they?... What positive alternatives have they come up with?"
[...] Bombast aside, [Minority Whip Eric] Cantor is actually adopting a different tack than the one laid out by Blunt, his predecessor as Minority Whip.
In my sit down with Cantor earlier this week, he pointed to a more nuanced approach -- offering a "pretext" rather than a proposal -- eschewing the kind of sweeping, vague alternative that earned the party such ridicule when they rolled out their alternative budget in March.
Thrush also notes that the Republicans' preferred approach would "essentially cancel out" reforms that insurance companies don't like. Those insurance companies, Thrush reminds us, are "a key campaign donor to Cantor and other GOP leaders."
Image credit: Politico
