FAIL TO LAUNCH
Don finds it’s not so easy to turn vows into reality
THEY LOVED the ideas — but not how they’re being carried out.
Conservative groups and politicians that helped usher President Trump to his historic victory in November are now blasting how he’s carrying out two of his signature proposals — a new health care bill and the border wall — even though he never bothered to offer specific details for either idea.
Experts say the groups should have known the devil was in the details.
“Policy specifics” were “not demanded of Trump during the past presidential campaign,” David Caputo, professor of political science at Pace University, told the Daily News. “Thus President Trump was given greater opportunity to develop specifics later.”
“So it should come as no surprise that specifics are often lacking and plans appear disorganized,” he added.
When it comes to health care, Trump’s promise to replace Obamacare had been a key vow during his campaign.
And while he signed a vague order in his first hours as President granting federal agencies the power to minimize “the economic burden” of Obamacare — giving his supporters the impression he would follow through with some kind of gold-plated, revenue-neutral bill — “Obamacare lite,” as GOP critics dubbed it, has fallen far short of conservatives’ expectations.
After days of literally keeping it under “lock and key,” Republican leaders released the Trump-backed bill to near-immediate fury from conservatives.
Groups like the Koch Brothersbacked Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth, and Heritage Action have all rejected it, while Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (below), a conservative and Trump fan who had even been mentioned as a prospective vice presidential or cabinet secretary, promptly announced that Republicans must “start over.”
At least eight other Republican senators have come out firing against the bill — which hasn’t even been scored yet by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to see how much it would cost or how many people might lose health care coverage — specifically criticizing its provisions to create health care tax credits. It’s also become clear that Trump will not be able to coerce Mexico into paying for his promised massive border wall. On the sixth day of his presidency, Trump signed an order to jump-start construction of the wall, and, the same week, told ABC News that construction would start within months and that Mexico would reimburse the U.S. 100% of the costs. He has still provided no specifics, and it’s increasingly likely the U.S. will take on the mammoth cost of such a barrier, estimated at more than $21 billion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is among those rolling their eyes. “Uh, no” was the Kentucky Republican’s terse response when he was asked Thursday if Mexico would pay for the wall.