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If President Barack Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for middle-class tax cuts and programs won’t go anywhere in the new Republican Congress, why did Obama even spend time discussing it during last week’s State of the Union?

"Because it’s something for people to run on," said Cokie Roberts as part of a Sunday pundit analysis on ABC’s This Week.

"He’s lost almost 70 Democrats since he’s been president," Roberts said of Congress, "and more than 900 state legislators. So he needs to give Democrats something to run on."

We had heard iterations of Democratic losses on the congressional level, but never such a large number of losses for Democrats in legislatures across the country.

Turns out, Roberts is correct.

Our analysis shows Democrats have lost 910 seats since Obama took office. (You can see the changes in every state here.)

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His signature legislation, the ACA is under severe threat,

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ORIGINAL: subrob1967
His signature legislation, the ACA is under severe threat, and there's a damn good chance it will be repealed.

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After a day in Washington D.C. Thursday, less than 48 hours after winning the White House, President-elect Donald Trump indicated one of his main focuses in the first 100 days of his presidency will be healthcare.

On the campaign trail throughout the year, Trump promised voters a repeal of Obamacare.

With Trump's victory, the end of the collapsing program is coming. Under President Obama's tenure, Republicans voted over 50 times to repeal Obamacare, but were met with roadblocks from former Majority Leader Harry Reid and veto threats from the Oval Office. With a Republican majority in the House, Senate and a Republican president, the path to repealing Obamacare is wide open.

Republicans have been criticized and accused of failing to provide a plan to replace Obamacare. Speaker Ryan produced a plan earlier this year.

Trump has also offered a series of healthcare solutions:

Repeal and replace Obamacare with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

Work with Congress to create a patient-centered health care system that promotes choice, quality, and affordability.

Work with states to establish high-risk pools to ensure access to coverage for individuals who have not maintained continuous coverage.

Allow people to purchase insurance across state lines, in all 50 states, creating a dynamic market.

Maximize flexibility for states via block grants so that local leaders can design innovative Medicaid programs that will better serve their low-income citizens.


During an interview Thursday with CNN, former Republican Senator and Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said with a Republican majority, there are is no excuse not to move for repeal.

No more excuses! It’s time to repeal Obamacare. pic.twitter.com/bZJSggPkkG
— Jim DeMint (@JimDeMint) November 10, 2016

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Senate Republicans, flush with victory and defying the odds, have maintained their majority in the upper chamber and vowed to move quickly on repealing Obamacare. Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “It's pretty high on our agenda as you know. I would be shocked if we didn't move forward and keep our commitment to the American people."

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal President Obama’s signature domestic achievement. McConnell did not discuss whether reconciliation would be used, though the chances of that are likely since the GOP majority is slim. And there is virtually no chance that Senate Republicans will be able to cobble together nine Democrats to reach 60 votes for cloture. Still, make no mistake, Trump and Congressional Republicans have signaled that Obamacare repeal is on the table. Yet, as with most bills, a lot of cost analysis, meetings, and the formulation of a replacement piece of legislation could take some time (via the Hill):

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday he would be "shocked" if Republicans did not move forward with repealing the health law, but declined to discuss if reconciliation would be used.

The GOP’s toughest challenge ahead, though, involves replacing ObamaCare — a problem that has consistently dogged Republicans since the law’s passage.

Experts say it is likely a repeal bill would delay the date it takes effect to give lawmakers time to try to come up with a replacement. The reconciliation bill last year did not include a replacement but phased out the subsidies and Medicaid expansion over two years in what could allow time for a replacement.

Republicans would face difficulty uniting around the details of a plan and dealing with factors like cost estimates, despite the outline put forward by House Republicans this year.

Joe Antos, a healthcare expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said there would have to be some kind of transition period so people were not kicked off their plans right away.

"I don't think you can get anybody to say 'OK, on February 1 you're off,'" Antos said. "2018 is another matter," he added, though he noted that the law could be adapted rather than completely scrapped.

In an interview, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) would not absolutely commit to using reconciliation to repeal ObamaCare, noting that there still had to be planning meetings with the Trump transition team, but spoke favorably of the test run the process got last year.

Health care wars reloaded. Stay tuned.

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

Trumps U-turn on Obamacare is just the start. Those who voted for him need to get used to it.

That it's replacement may have one or two aspects in common with the original hardly constitutes a "U-turn on Obamacare".

K.

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On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/healthcare-reform

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

Trumps U-turn on Obamacare is just the start. Those who voted for him need to get used to it.

That it's replacement may have one or two aspects in common with the original hardly constitutes a "U-turn on Obamacare".

K.

You obviously didnt listen to Trumps pre-election speeches well enough.

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On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/healthcare-reform

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

Trumps U-turn on Obamacare is just the start. Those who voted for him need to get used to it.

That it's replacement may have one or two aspects in common with the original hardly constitutes a "U-turn on Obamacare".

K.

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ORIGINAL: Nnanji

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

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ORIGINAL: Kirata

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ORIGINAL: Politesub53

Trumps U-turn on Obamacare is just the start. Those who voted for him need to get used to it.

That it's replacement may have one or two aspects in common with the original hardly constitutes a "U-turn on Obamacare".

K.

You obviously didnt listen to Trumps pre-election speeches well enough.

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On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/healthcare-reform

So let's keep playing word games. A full repeal can't have affordable insurance or health care because that was part of Obamacare. A full repeal won't allow doctors to be paid because that was part of ACA. It's idiotic, but it's what liberals do. They twist words so that they can argue they were right all along. No PS. It's not a U-turn.