Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) foreshadowed bleak midterm elections for the Republican Party unless its members can address those struggling with healthcare.
Van Drew expressed his desire to draft a “solid, thorough replacement for what is terrible Obamacare” on Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street on Saturday. The current plan proposed by Senate Democrats was criticized by Van Drew because it has “just been subsidizing insurance companies.”
“In the short term, people are getting the renewal notices, their premiums are doubling, so I’m saying we need to deal with that now because otherwise, No. 1, it is the right thing to do just morally, No. 2, we’re gonna get killed,” Van Drew said.
“We have to win the midterms, and it’s going to be a hard thing to do. If people are just struggling with their healthcare, it’s not going to help us,” Van Drew added. “We’re going to win. I believe we’re going to win. I do because we’re on the right side. But we gotta put our thinking caps on. The Democrats are smart at politics. We have to be smarter; that’s the bottom line.”
In Van Drew’s state of New Jersey, voters elected Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) over the Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli. The Democratic Party also maintained control of the state General Assembly, with 49 seats called for Democrats and 19 seats for Republicans.
REPUBLICANS MUST NUKE FILIBUSTER NOW OR DEMOCRATS WILL DO IT WHEN THEY REGAIN POWER, TRUMP WARNS
The premium tax credits initially drafted under the Affordable Care Act were enhanced under the Biden administration amid the coronavirus pandemic. A Congressional Budget Office report said that permanently extending the enhanced credits would cost the government $383 billion. However, if they permanently expire, the number of people without health insurance would rise by an average of 3.8 million annually by 2034.
As of Saturday, the government has been shut down for 40 days. The Senate has attempted 15 votes to fund the government in order to open it.