Teabagging Republicans are nothing if not predictable: they'll do everything they can to obstruct progress, and when they're successful they point to the lack of progress and rail louder than if someone had dipped their scroti in hot tea. But one, and only the latest, example:
The Obama administration originally had asked for more than half a billion dollars to spend on public relations and outreach for the law. House Republicans had returned with an offer of nothing.That's right: zero dollars. Without necessary funds, the Department of Health and Human Services worried it would not have the necessary money to pay for navigators to help people enroll in health care, for the technology needed to implement the exchanges and for the public relations campaign that was required to inform citizens about what the law actually did.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the controversial move of asking insurance companies and nonprofit organizations to donate money and help. Republicans were outraged. She asked for more money. She was refused...
... Republicans refused to appropriate money needed to implement Obamacare. When Sebelius tried to shift money from other areas to help do what needed to be done,she was attacked by Senate Republicans. At every step, Republicans fought measures to get money to put towards implementation.
Is it really a surprise then that implementation hasn't gone smoothly?I don't excuse the problems with the healthcare website. Someone screwed up, for sure, and it's at minimum a huge embarrassment. But Rs not only refused adequate funding upfront, they're conveniently forgetting how screwed up Bushcare was at first, and how long it took to fix. With the help (the link is worth a click!), unlike today, of the opposition party.
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