The Patriot Post® · GOP May Cave to ObamaCare Subsidies Once SCOTUS Rules

The GOP Congress will have its work cut out for it if the Supreme Court strikes downs the federal ObamaCare subsidies in King v. Burwell. First, there will be the political fight as to which political party will shoulder the blame for lost subsides and rising prices. Will it be Democrats who drafted and passed the law? Or will the blame fall on the Republicans in power who will try to fix the mess? Thirty-one Republican senators have backed a bill by Sen. Ron Johnson that would extend the ObamaCare subsidies until 2017 while also repealing the individual and employer mandates to Obama’s signature legislation. “When it was first presented to me, the person from the press that presented it to me said [Johnson] just wanted to extend the subsidies, and if that were the only case, no way would I support that,” Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) told The Hill. But then Salmon changed his mind because Johnson’s bill will lead to end of ObamaCare. “Anything that would get rid of fundamental parts of ObamaCare will ultimately lead to its demise.” The GOP is right to be concerned with a King v. Burwell fallout. After all, a disproportionate amount of the people affected are in Republican districts. But handing out subsidies to a favored constituency is a trick of the big-government politician. Instead, the true conservatives should take the suggestion of The Heritage Foundation and repeal the ObamaCare regulations that are driving up costs to begin with.