Moderate Republicans' Obamacare Surrender Leads to...More Democratic Attacks

You heard it here first...

Before the holidays, this space asked what four moderate Republicans were thinking by signing on to a discharge petition to demand a vote on enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Their move gives Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) control of the House floor, with a vote on restoring the enhanced subsidies likely occurring this week. But, just as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) voted against House Republicans’ “repeal-and-replace” measure in May 2017 only to get attacked on the issue the following year, I predicted that their abject surrender would NOT exempt them from political hits from the Left.

Sure enough, over the holidays, guess what happened? The leftist group Protect Our Care announced it would run ads attacking vulnerable House Republicans for letting the enhanced subsidies expire as scheduled on December 31. Among the 10 targeted by the group are three of the four Republicans who signed the Jeffries discharge petition: Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), Mike Lawler (R-NY), and Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA).

In other words, these moderate Republicans agreed to do exactly what Democrats wanted—and still got politically attacked by Democrat-backed groups. As I noted in December, Forrest Gump had a phrase that aptly describes the moderates’ strategy, such as it is…