Fiscal Responsibility vs the House of Representatives

Once again this week the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, aka Obamacare. This was the 33rd time since January 2011 they have tried; the previous 32 attempts failed to pass in the Senate. After the vote, House Speaker John Boehner said "We're giving our colleagues in the Senate another chance to heed the will of the American people. It's an opportunity to do the right thing for our country.”

Who is John Boehner talking about when he speaks about the will of the American people? Maybe some people don’t want the Affordable Health Care Act but no one wants the House of Representatives to waste time and money. I can’t imagine an employee of any company still retaining employment after wasting 80 hours submitting the same rejected plan 33 times.

CBS News reported the cost to the taxpayers for these 33 repeal attempts was $50 million dollars. And, not one of the repeal attempts contained an alternative solution. In the same article Nancy Cordes reported “Republicans did release a short outline of their health care priorities back in 2009 but have crafted no formal replacement for the President’s health care law and have no immediate plans to do so.”

Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results! John Boehner and the rest of the House know this will never pass in the Senate but like spoiled children they keep trying.

Just a few weeks ago the House of Representatives wasted another couple million dollars, this time to find Eric Holder in contempt. Seeing the democrats march out of session in response reminded me of the court scene in the movie Animal House. The Republicans, playing the part of the devious but clean cut fraternity brothers, continued on with the vote.

According to Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post “For all the fireworks leading up to the vote, the resolutions aren't expected to have much effect.” Let’s stop for a minute and look at history. The last time anyone was convicted of contempt, which holds up to a year imprisonment and 100K in fines, was in 1937. And, it came as no surprise when the Justice department refused to prosecute the Holder case.

I know the Republicans want to voice their concerns but this is not the way. The House of Representatives needs to work for the American people, not against Barack Obama.