"For Some Republicans, a Quiet Shift Away From Obamacare Repeal"

For Some Republicans, a Quiet Shift Away From Obamacare Repeal

By John Tozzi at Business Week

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-16/for-some-republicans-a-quiet-shift-away-from-obamacare-repeal

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Just look at the pickle in which Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finds himself: The Senate minority leader, up for reelection this year, faces a primary challenge from a Tea Party candidate, Matt Bevin, who promises total opposition to the Affordable Care Act. “Matt will not vote for any spending bills that fund Obamacare. None,” his website says. Bevin’s uncompromising approach recalls the brinksmanship that shut down the government in October, a political disaster for Republicans. He has criticized McConnell for being soft on Obamacare. (Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, got in a spat with Matt Drudge last week after allowing lawmakers to modify an ACA provision by voice vote, which doesn’t record individual members’ positions.)

McConnell still favors repeal, too. Here’s a snippet from his speech on the Senate floor just three weeks ago: “Americans agree that it’s time for Washington Democrats to work with us to remedy the mess they created—and that means repealing this law and replacing it with real reforms.”

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But he also appears to be softening his tone. Talking to health-care workers this week in his home state of Kentucky—where the Obamacare marketplace opened more smoothly than in most states—McConnell acknowledged that repeal is unlikely as long as Obama is president. He suggested improving the law was the way to go. “We’re going to figure out a way to get this fixed,” McConnell said, according to a report in the Madison Courier. The language echoes a U.S. Chamber of Commerce ad supporting McConnell that said he’s “leading the fight to fix this Obamacare mess,” making no mention of repeal.

The repeal-vs.-repair split is only the latest manifestation of the GOP’s internal struggle between hardline Tea Party idealists and more pragmatic politicians. What McConnell and other candidates say during the campaigns this summer and fall may be a good barometer of which side is winning.





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