Last updated on February 19th, 2013 at 09:51 am
Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke for many of his Republican colleagues today when he proposed avoiding the military cuts in the sequester by taking healthcare away from 30 million Americans.
Transcript of Graham on Fox News Sunday via Think Progress:
CHRIS WALLACE: “Let me just ask you one more question about the sequestration before we let you go, Senator. You know if we go into the sequester, the president is going to hammer Republicans, the White House already put out a list of all the things, terrible things that will happen if a sequester kicks in, 70,000 children losing Head Start. 2100 fewer food inspectors and small business will lose $900 million in loan guarantees and you know, Senator, the president will say your party is forcing this to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.”
GRAHAM: “Well, all I can say is the commander-in-chief thought — came up with the idea of sequestration, destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk. It is my belief — take Obamacare and put it on the table. You can make $86,000 a year in income and still get a government subsidy under Obamacare. Obamacare is destroying health care in this country and people are leaving the private sector, because their companies cannot afford to offer Obamacare and if you want to look at ways to find $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade, look at Obamacare, don’t destroy the military and cut blindly across the board. There are many ways to do it but the president is the commander-in-chief and on his watch we’ll begin to unravel the finest military in the history of the world, at a time when we need it most. The Iranians are watching us, we are allowing people to be destroyed in Syria, and I’m disappointed in our commander-in-chief.”
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Graham is not alone. House Republicans have twice tried to dodge the military cuts in the sequester by passing bills that would have immediately cut healthcare and food for hundreds of thousands of children and seniors. The Republican plan to eliminate healthcare for 30 million Americans is nothing news. House Republicans have attempted to repeal Obamacare 34 times. Each of these attempted repeals, if they had been successful, would have eliminated healthcare for 30 million Americans.
All Sen. Graham did was tie two Republican favorites together. (Sort of like an anti-Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of bad public policy. Two horrible things that should never be put together.)
Graham’s argument ignores the fact that repealing Obamacare would increase the deficit.
According to the CBO, repealing Obamacare would increase the deficit by $109 billion. The end result of Graham’s proposal would be 30 million people without healthcare, and over a hundred billion dollars added to the deficit. But hey, maybe this will keep Graham from facing a tea party challenger when he is up for reelection next year?
It is not a coincidence that Lindsey Graham floated this scheme on Fox News. In an attempt to avoid a tea party primary challenge next year, Graham has gone bats**t crazy. Because he is terrified of being primaried from the right, Graham has thrown reality out the window.
The Republicans now try to sprinkle the words immigration and the middle class into their comments, but nothing has really changed. Attempting to take away healthcare from 30 million people is just business as usual for the Republican Party.
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