‘No’ Weakens the Trump Agenda; ‘Yes’ Angers the Voters at Home
:::::: New York Times ::::::::
For the House Republicans who have never served under a Republican president — roughly two-thirds of them — Thursday’s vote on a measure that would repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health care law is a legislative fantasia, the culmination of seven years of campaign promises impeded by Mr. Obama’s veto pen.
But weeks of back-room machinations to bring a disparate group of lawmakers on board have left many Republicans with an excruciating choice: pass a bill with an extremely limited constituency that could well wreak havoc with their own voters, and on Republicans’ re-election prospects, or turn it back, leaving President Trump’s agenda deeply wounded.
Should House Republicans reject the measure, the working relationship between the White House and Republican leaders in Congress, still in its infancy, would suffer a powerful blow. In Washington, failure often begets more failure, as opposition forces strengthen, allies fragment and the thin foam of bipartisanship evaporates. The article is here.
