Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) said his Republican colleagues in the House “really apoplectic” at the Obamacare numbers this week but will eventually try to fix and smother the healthcare law “to death.”
“They don’t know what to do. It turned out exactly as Ms. Sebelius predicted and they don’t know how to deal with success. They have lost and they can’t admit it. So they keep throwing all kinds of crazy ideas against the wall, hoping something will stick,” McDermott told MSNBC.
“But I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. They’re ultimately going to admit they failed, and they’re going to pivot and start to say they’re here to help fix it. And they’re going to try and love it to death. That’s going to be their next trick.”
Seven Democrats joined all Republicans on Thursday to repeal Obamacare’s 30-hour definition of full-time employment and restore the traditional 40-hour work week.
But McDermott predicted Obamacare will gain in popularity heading toward midterms.
“What they realize is that we’ve got six months until we get to election. And during that period of time, people are going to be talking all across this country back and forth from one state that has it to one state that doesn’t. They’re calling their sister who lives in Tennessee or their brother who lives in Alabama, and they’re going to say we got this great thing in California. And pretty soon people are going to start to say to their members of Congress, well, what have you done about it? You said we were against this. You said this was a bad thing. But my sister says it’s really great for her,” the congressman said.
“And that’s going to turn the American people, because they’re gradually getting the idea. There is seven million people who got something they didn’t have before. And they are safe and secure. And they’re going to tell their family about it. And that’s going to drive the Republicans crazy. They’re going to have to come around to accepting.”
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