GOP ignored Ryan plan red flags
By: Glenn Thrush and Jake Sherman
May 23, 2011 04:48 AM EDT
It might be a political time bomb â thatâs what GOP pollsters warned as House Republicans prepared for the April 15 vote on Rep. Paul Ryanâs proposed budget, with its plan to dramatically remake Medicare.
No matter how favorably pollsters with the Tarrance Group or other firms spun the bill in their pitch â casting it as the only path to saving the beloved health entitlement for seniors â the Ryan budgetâs approval rating barely budged above the high 30s or its disapproval below 50 percent, according to a Republican operative familiar with the presentation.
The poll numbers on the plan were so toxic â nearly as bad as those of President Barack Obamaâs health reform bill at the nadir of its unpopularity â that staffers with the National Republican Congressional Committee warned leadership, âYou might not want to go thereâ in a series of tense pre-vote meetings.
But go there Republicans did, en masse and with rhetorical gusto â transforming the political landscape for 2012, giving Democrats a new shot at life and forcing the GOP to suddenly shift from offense to defense.
Itâs been more than a month since Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his lieutenant, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) boldly positioned their party as a beacon of fiscal responsibility â a move many have praised as principled, if risky. In the process, however, they raced through political red lights to pass Ryanâs controversial measure in a deceptively unified 235-193 vote, with only four GOP dissenters.
The story of how it passed so quickly â with a minimum of public hand-wringing and a frenzy of backroom machinations â is a tale of colliding principles and power politics set against the backdrop of a fickle and anxious electorate.
The outward unity projected by House Republicans masked weeks of fierce debate, even infighting, and doubt over a measure that stands virtually no chance of becoming law. In a series of heated closed-door exchanges, dissenters, led by Ryanâs main internal rival â House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) â argued for a less radical, more bipartisan approach, GOP staffers say.
At a fundraiser shortly after the vote, a frustrated Camp groused, âWe shouldnât have done itâ and that he was âoverridden,â according to a person in attendance.
A few days earlier, as most Republicans remained mute during a GOP conference meeting on the Ryan plan, Camp rose and drily asserted, âPeople in my district like Medicare,â one lawmaker, who is now having his own doubts about voting yes, told POLITICO.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1A8854CA-F9E9-4AA4-274BEDCD1B234DD8
By: Glenn Thrush and Jake Sherman
May 23, 2011 04:48 AM EDT
It might be a political time bomb â thatâs what GOP pollsters warned as House Republicans prepared for the April 15 vote on Rep. Paul Ryanâs proposed budget, with its plan to dramatically remake Medicare.
No matter how favorably pollsters with the Tarrance Group or other firms spun the bill in their pitch â casting it as the only path to saving the beloved health entitlement for seniors â the Ryan budgetâs approval rating barely budged above the high 30s or its disapproval below 50 percent, according to a Republican operative familiar with the presentation.
The poll numbers on the plan were so toxic â nearly as bad as those of President Barack Obamaâs health reform bill at the nadir of its unpopularity â that staffers with the National Republican Congressional Committee warned leadership, âYou might not want to go thereâ in a series of tense pre-vote meetings.
But go there Republicans did, en masse and with rhetorical gusto â transforming the political landscape for 2012, giving Democrats a new shot at life and forcing the GOP to suddenly shift from offense to defense.
Itâs been more than a month since Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his lieutenant, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) boldly positioned their party as a beacon of fiscal responsibility â a move many have praised as principled, if risky. In the process, however, they raced through political red lights to pass Ryanâs controversial measure in a deceptively unified 235-193 vote, with only four GOP dissenters.
The story of how it passed so quickly â with a minimum of public hand-wringing and a frenzy of backroom machinations â is a tale of colliding principles and power politics set against the backdrop of a fickle and anxious electorate.
The outward unity projected by House Republicans masked weeks of fierce debate, even infighting, and doubt over a measure that stands virtually no chance of becoming law. In a series of heated closed-door exchanges, dissenters, led by Ryanâs main internal rival â House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) â argued for a less radical, more bipartisan approach, GOP staffers say.
At a fundraiser shortly after the vote, a frustrated Camp groused, âWe shouldnât have done itâ and that he was âoverridden,â according to a person in attendance.
A few days earlier, as most Republicans remained mute during a GOP conference meeting on the Ryan plan, Camp rose and drily asserted, âPeople in my district like Medicare,â one lawmaker, who is now having his own doubts about voting yes, told POLITICO.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1A8854CA-F9E9-4AA4-274BEDCD1B234DD8
