If you need any further proof that Neocons are bent on totally destroying the middle and working classes in this county, than look no further than their total near-nuclear war on Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA). After failing to repeal it almost 40 times (at taxpayer expense), they now have decided to kill it by refusing to fund it.
Nice.
Forget that it would allow a single 35-year-old man to obtain insurance for about $45 a month, as opposed to about $400 a month under the current system. Or that the ACA would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, which some insurers interpret to be just about everything from childhood diabetes to cancer. "Obamacare" also sets a limit on out-of-pocket expenses (based on income eligibility) and subsidizes premiums for those workers at or around the poverty level. And it allows children to remain on their parent's policies into their 20's, which is a huge boon to college students.
Still, the Republicans in Congress would rather see us suffer than either "give in" to the President's signature legislation or injure their cozy relationship with Big Pharma and Big Insurance. And they're not afraid to shut down the government in order to get their way.
The Hill reports:
"In the House, 64 Republicans have signed onto a letter pressing Boehner not to bring any legislation funding ObamaCare to the floor. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the leader of the Senate effort, predicts the vast majority of the Senate Republican Conference will back his plan, giving him enough votes to sustain a filibuster of a stopgap spending measure.
"'This is the last stop before ObamaCare fully kicks in on Jan. 1 of next year for us to refuse to fund it,' Lee said Monday on 'Fox and Friends.' 'If Republicans in both houses simply refuse to vote for any continuing resolution that contains further funding for further enforcement of ObamaCare, we can stop it. We can stop the individual mandate from going into effect,' he said.
"'We have 64 of my colleagues on this letter and we're asking the leadership not to bring anything to the floor that has funding for ObamaCare in it,' said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who is spearheading the House effort.
"Several influential members of the Republican conference are backing the controversial tactic, including Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) and Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the second- and third-ranking members of the GOP leadership, respectively.
"Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), who is widely considered a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has also signed on. Earlier this month, he spoke out in favor of holding hostage the government operation funds to freeze the rollout of the controversial healthcare law at a breakfast sponsored by Concerned Veterans for America.
"'You want to delay implementation? Don't fund it,' Rubio said at the July 11 breakfast. 'If we have a six-month continuing resolution, we should defund the implementation of ObamaCare by those six months ... I will not vote for a continuing resolution unless it defunds ObamaCare.'
"An aide to Lee said Republicans won't be blamed for a shutdown because they will offer legislation to fund all other government operations except for those necessary to establish the new healthcare law.
"'This is going to be the litmus test of whether you do or do not support ObamaCare,' said Brian Phillips, Lee's spokesman. Lee's proposal could become an issue in Republican primary races next year.
"'Any Republican who votes to give Obama a single penny to implement ObamaCare is part of the problem and should be defeated. Any Republican who votes to fund ObamaCare should have a primary challenger,' said Matt Hoskins, executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a fundraising group that supports conservative Republican challengers."
Of course, these fat cats never have to worry about hospital bills, or whether or not to take their sick child to an ER because they might not be able to pay the bill and still make their mortgage payment. They just don't want you to have it.
For the life of me, I can never find the compassion in these conservatives.