Shameful Jones

            In the White House Rose Garden on May 4th, Republicans and President Trump celebrated the House passage of the American Healthcare Act, the legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare. In my view, it was not the best possible bill, but at least a step in the right direction that had earned the support of warring Republican factions that recognized the need to move on.

            As expected, not a single Democrat voted for the bill after refusing for months to work with Republicans to come up with a better plan. Instead they clung stubbornly to ObamaCare, a failed—and unrepairable—disaster resting on a fuming pile of lies: “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan…” 

            Even more disconcerting to me were the twenty No votes from Republicans who would not support the bill, unconcerned with the serious and possibly permanent damage their opposition might inflict on their party’s future ability to govern. One of these obdurate naysayers was our very own Congressman, Walter Jones.

            In a statement, Jones called the rushed process used by GOP leaders without a revised CBO score “shameful.” He argued, "As a result, no one has any idea how much those deals will cost the American taxpayers, or how they might affect the cost, quality and availability of health insurance coverage for American families."

            Jones’s argument is fatuous, a lame excuse for not having done his homework on the merits of the bill, while being oblivious to the history of the CBO’s notoriously inaccurate estimates. Or perhaps Jones is more interested in maintaining his reputation as a maverick, to hell with the consequences.

            Well, here’s what I think is “shameful”: Walter Jones. As I’ve argued before, it is way past time for Walter Jones to retire and save us, his constituents, from further embarrassment.