House Speaker John Boehner's problem children, the tea baggers elected since 2010 on one and one issue only—Obamacare repeal, are very concerned that Boehner and the rest of leadership are joining the rest of the world in leaving them behind. They want their leader to go through the complicated and time-consuming charade of
Obamacare repeal one more time. Sure they know that it's completely futile because even if the Senate also makes it happen, it will be vetoed. They don't care.
Conservatives are adamant that reconciliation—the rarely used fast-track procedure that allows the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority rather than 60 votes—be used to pass a repeal of the health care law. They believed GOP leaders were on board.
But as House and Senate lawmakers have met to hash out a compromise budget over the past few weeks, conservatives noted that House Republican leaders have been talking about leaving their options open. An Obamacare repeal is a possibility, but so is a health care "fix" should the Supreme Court knock down some Obamacare tax credits in a case to be decided within a few months. […]
"It's imperative that [Obamacare repeal] be the focus for our reconciliation instructions," said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) at a Heritage Foundation event last week, referring to the guidance the budget has to include in order to employ the procedure.
"We told [the voters] time and time again, we are committed to getting rid of this law," Jordan said recently. "So, let's make sure we keep this thing front and center in the political debate, put it on the president's desk [and] actually make him veto it."
This story isn't going to make them feel any better, as Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel tells Politico that they need to focus on the big picture of actually getting a budget done, and without agreement on that, "there is no possible way we can get a repeal of Obamacare to the president's desk." That argument, though, is based on the premise that the House of Representatives primarily exists to do stuff, like legislate. That's sure as hell not going to fly with these guys.