Remember how Republicans spent two years angrily rejecting the accusation that their health care plan is to oppose whatever Barack Obama wants and preserve the status quo? In my new (subscriber-only) TRB column, I take note of the fact that they seem to have forgotten this talking point altogether:
One of the things Republicans seem to have forgotten, in the wake of the introduction and swift passage of their Dickensian budget crafted by Paul Ryan, is their unshakeable commitment to health care reform. Remember that? Throughout the health care debate, they were determined to rally around their own reform plan. And now the House has passed a long-term budget that yanks health insurance away from more than 40 million Americans and neglects to put anything in its place. Maybe it’s just an oversight, like the time in freshman year when I turned in a history paper with no bibliography. But it’s kind of starting to look like the Republicans don’t actually plan to do anything for the uninsured.