Oh, poor Rep. Sean Duffy. He promised there would be a replacement for the Affordable Care Act after the Republican House repealed it over and over again, but he can't seem to find one. Duffy, as you might recall, is the Tea Party freshman who was fretting over how he would make ends meet on a $174,000 per year salary.
But he promised there would be a replacement (giggle) after they repealed the Affordable Care Act. And Honest Sean meant that, right?
Via Think Progress:
Freshman Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) promised during his campaign that he would only repeal health reform after finding a solution to replace it. However, he told a town hall meeting in his district this week that GOP leaders had convinced him to vote for repeal first, ensuring him that a replacement would be on its way. GOP leaders, Duffy said, told him that a replacement bill would be ready by the Spring. The fact that nothing has been proposed or debated all year has Duffy “very concerned”:
DUFFY: I believe, if we’re going to repeal the president’s health care plan, we should replace it. I still believe that. [...] As I dealt with the leadership, that was a concern of mine. And I got a commitment from leadership that we were going to come up with a replacement. And they told me we were going to do it in the Spring. In the Spring we haven’t come out with our replacement proposal and that has me very concerned. Because that what was we had talked about before we had the vote, “repeal and replace.”
Duffy is either naive or playing a fool if he thought there would be any kind of replacement for the Affordable Care Act if it actually got repealed. Republicans want everything put in reverse, including Medicare and Social Security. They do not want Americans to have access to health insurance unless they have oodles of money to keep the profit margins fat. If they're poor, or middle class, or have to choose between their health or their home, well...too bad.
I'm not sure whether I want to laugh or cry when I watch Duffy squirm over this one. My sense is that he knew there would be no replacement, and he's just playing the dupe to keep constituents from letting him have it.
