We won’t put up with shenanigans

Let me start by saying the dummies in this unfortunate satire are not the voters. They are members of the U.S. Congress who have reached a new high in low. They have managed to set their approval rating bars at a staggering, or stumbling, 5 percent. What could Congress have possibly done, or not done, to garner this sort of praise and how did the survey find 5 percent who actually approve of this Congress? To understand the source of our collective congressional angst, I’d like you to indulge me for just a minute as we take a quick jog through recent history.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, into law. This is not a single health insurance policy. It is, in fact, a set of regulations directed toward insurance companies and health-care providers. It is also a mandate that all of us share the burden of health-care costs. Its goal is to make health care affordable and universal.

The ACA accomplishes this by directing insurance companies to no longer exclude you for pre-existing conditions, they can’t put a lifetime limit on your coverage, their coverage has to meet a minimum standard and they have to compete with each other through insurance exchanges.

In addition, health care providers will receive “bundled” Medicare and Medicaid payments instead of the “fee-for-service” arrangement previously paid by the government. Under this new system, a single payment is made to a hospital and/or physician group for a defined episode of care — for, example a joint replacement. By contrast, the old system made individual payments to individual providers on a fee-for-service basis that complicated the process and making it more expensive.

Finally, the individual and employer mandates are undoubtedly the most bitter pills to swallow. Simply put, this makes it mandatory for everyone to carry health insurance. Companies that employ 50 or more people will have to provide health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Individuals without health insurance will have to find some or, again, pay a penalty. In both the individual and employer mandates, federal subsidies are available for those who qualify. Individuals who are 100 percent to 400 percent of the federal poverty limit will qualify for subsidies. The employer mandate has been postponed for a year while it is made more palatable for said employers.

The reason for these mandates is simple. Insurance companies now have to take customers they previously would have excluded. They can’t put lifetime caps on payments or drop you if you become sick. In other words, it’s going to cost insurance companies more. In order to cover that cost, all of us — including the younger, more healthy and subsequently less likely to use health insurance — have to contribute. The end result is supposed to be more competition and more participation resulting in cheaper universal coverage. That’s Obamacare in a nutshell. So far it seems to be working, but it’s really too early to tell.

Like it or hate it, it is the law. It was passed by both houses and was signed by the president. It has, in most part, been judged constitutional by a very conservative U.S. Supreme Court. It’s as done a deal as you can get in Washington, D.C. The only thing more done in Washington would be the reputation of Congress.

This brings us to the original question: why has Congress sunk to a historic low of 5 percent approval? It seems congressional Republicans just can’t understand the concept of a bill passing into law. That’s a little odd, since they are in the law-making business, but it is apparently the case.

The law in question is the above-mentioned Affordable Care Act. The majority leadership in the House of Representatives has voted more than 40 times to repeal Obamacare. Everyone involved knew this was nothing more than a symbolic gesture, because the Democratic-controlled Senate would not let this bill see the light of day. Even if it had, the president would never have signed the bill into law. This was a farcical waste of time and money, but the far right in the House couldn’t help itself.

While Congress was wasting the country’s time by demonstrating Einstein’s definition of insanity, they were also hammering out a budget bill. The result was a pretty Spartan allowance that fell in line with the sequester budget both parties had already subjected us to. It involved major concessions from the president and congressional Democrats. It was agreed to by both sides in both houses and was poised to go into effect. That was until Speaker of the House John Boehner and his band of merry malcontents changed course at the last minute and decided to tack on a little extra something. These Keystone Cop dropouts thought it would be a good idea to try one more time and they attached a rider to the budget bill that would delay Obamacare for one year. That was their idea of a compromise.

Members of the business community told them it wouldn’t work. Members of their own party told them it wouldn’t work. Recent history told them it wouldn’t work. So what the heck, let’s give it a try.

I think what really did it for people was the look on the faces of House Republicans when they came out of their closed-door meeting. They had just closed down the government and they could barely contain their glee. The image of those smirking subversives strutting through the Capitol is something most of us will always remember. Welcome to the land of 5 percent, you dummies.

Since the poll numbers have come out, both sides have toned down the rhetoric and seem to be seeking a way out of this mess. The 350,000 people put out of work by the government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling crisis have finally registered with, not Congress, but the people. It is the people’s disgust for these tactics that have brought these radicals to the bargaining table.

So here it is, “Congress: Governing for Dummies 101.” It may sometimes take awhile, but the people will eventually get wise to you. When they do it doesn’t matter how many bankers or corporate persons you are beholden to. It is the people of this country who hire you and it is the people who will fire you. Consider these poll numbers your pink slip.

Chuck Legge is a freelance political cartoonist who lives in Sutton. His political cartoons, “The World According to Chuck,” are printed in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and other newspapers around the state and nation.