Paul Ryan Gets Smacked Down While Grandstanding About Obamacare During House Hearing

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Paul Ryan got stopped dead in his tracks by Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) while he was trying to grandstand and trash Obama during an unrelated House hearing.

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Rep. Ryan (R-WI) used a hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee that was supposed to be about the HHS budget request to grandstand about President Obama and Obamacare.

Ryan said, “It shouldn’t surprise you that we’re more interested in talking about ObamaCare, especially given the president’s remarks this week. Whatever the Supreme Court decides later this month, I think the lesson is absolutely clear: ObamaCare is flat busted.”

Rep. Ryan accused Obama of dictating to Republicans instead of working with them, “Here is the question I’m trying to get at. Is the President going to stand up and wave I have a one-page bill? I have a one sentence fix is that going to be the administration’s position, or is the administration going to be willing to work with Congress to find a way to give the American people more healthcare freedom?” Later, Ryan suggested that the President would put concrete around his ankles and say my way, or the highway.

Ranking Democratic committee member Sander Levin (D-MI) laid it down on Ryan. Levin said, “I am not surprised at the tone, but I find it so counterproductive. Mr. Chairman, you talk about two-sidedness. The two sides when you say you worry about the millions who will lose their insurance when it’s your allies who brought the suit that would deprive them of insurance. You talk about concrete, having feet in concrete? That’s exactly where you’ve been in terms of ACA. Your feet have been in concrete, while you’ve brought up bill after bill to try to destroy ACA, and when you say will the President by my way or the highway, that’s precisely what has been your approach to ACA. Precisely. You’ve never sat down with us to say how can we make some changes. Instead, you have been out to destroy ACA, and you say where’s the President’s plan when the President believes that that court will and should uphold the law. All you’ve done is issue op-eds and bills, contradictory bills. You don’t have a plan. Like you haven’t had a plan for sixty years.”

Paul Ryan has nothing. Ryan is the person that John Boehner put in charge of coming up with the Republican Obamacare replacement bill, and he has produced nothing. No bills, no ideas, no legislative proposals, Rep. Ryan has made it clear that the Republican alternative to the ACA is to throw millions of people off of their health insurance.

Ryan did his best Darrell Issa impression, and he got smacked down for his efforts. Republicans think that they can take away health insurance from millions and blame President Obama. Paul Ryan was trying to set the stage for Obama to take the blame for the Republican plan to harm millions, but Rep. Levin delivered a dose of stone cold reality.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association