The Koch brothers and all their affiliated groups are incensed that real people actually like Obamacare and are storming town meetings in support of it. They are also pissed that it's March and they don't have their repeal. So they're going to do what they always do—spend a shit-ton of money to force Republicans to do their will.
“We’ve been patient this year, but it is past time to act and to act decisively,” said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, which is coordinating the push with other groups across the Kochs’ political network. “Our network has spent more money, more time and more years fighting Obamacare than anything else. And now with the finish line in sight, we cannot allow some folks to pull up and give up.”
The new mantra could be summed up as repeal, replace or revolt. Beyond the Koch network, other well-financed conservative groups like the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks are also increasing the pressure. All together, the new campaigns will involve advertising, rallies, phone calls to the Capitol switchboard and efforts to confront lawmakers in their offices with documentation of their own words about the need for repeal.
That's all fine and good for the Republicans in safely gerrymandered districts. It's not fine for all the Republicans who aren't, and indeed the effort has a very good possibility of blowing up in their faces. Because this: "Heritage Action, the Club for Growth and Freedom Partners, an organization funded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch—are troubled by the notion of refundable tax credits to help consumers pay for health insurance, a central tenet of Mr. Ryan’s plan that President Donald Trump appeared to endorse in his address to Congress last week."
They are very much opposed to those tax credits and to keeping any part of the Medicaid expansion—which Republican governors are fighting to keep, at least in part. Without these elements, millions and millions more people will lose their health insurance. But the maniaces—pushed by the Kochs—say that all that will cost way too much and it's just "Obamacare-lite," or even "Ryancare." They want the same repeal bill that was vetoed by President Obama last January to be pushed through again—straight up repeal and nothing else. Then, they say, they can start with a blank slate and do something completely different.
Which of course they'd never do because they don't care if people have insurance—and healthcare—or not. That's fine for the Freedom Caucus types who have safely crazy seats. It's not fine for everyone else in the House GOP, something Ryan has grudgingly admitted in adding the concessions toward a "replacement" in this effort, inadequate as they are. That's just to try to get something cobbled together to get through the House, never mind the Senate were there are a whole other host of concerns.
So this well-funded tantrum from the Kochs is likely to end up doing Ryan even more harm, solidifying the maniacs' opposition to his proposal. Their hardline stance also runs the risk of forcing the Republicans to pass a bill that ends up kicking 32 million people out of their plans, setting them up for the 2018 mid-terms in the most disastrous way possible. Fun times.