The swamp is taking over

The “swamp” is winning. Republicans are now breaking frequent promises to repeal Obamacare. For more than seven years, Republicans ran on promises to repeal Obamacare. Voters gave the GOP a majority in the House in 2010, a majority in the Senate in 2014, and handed them control of the White House in 2016. One of the largest factors was a promise to repeal Obamacare.

Four senators—Ted Cruz (Texas), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Mike Lee (Utah), and Rand Paul (Kentucky)—have announced their opposition to the new Senate repeal bill because the bill falls short of Republicans’ promises to repeal Obamacare. But others—Sens. Dean Heller (Nevada), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), Susan Collins (Maine), Jerry Moran (Kansas), and Rob Portman (Ohio)—have announced that they will vote against the bill for very different reasons.

The opposition mounted by Heller and his moderate colleagues is a symptom of Republican hypocrisy that has reared its ugly head. After all, Heller voted for a full repeal of Obamacare in January 2011 when he was a member of the House.

Does the Republican Party even know what it stands for anymore? Clearly, nearly a decade’s worth of promises to repeal Obamacare doesn’t really matter to many Senate Republicans. What good is a majority that doesn’t live up to what its members say they’re going to do?

One can only hope that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others will drive this bill in a conservative direction. The grass-roots conservative activists who knock on doors and make calls for candidates every election cycle aren’t going to take any more excuses.