Congressional Republicans are in danger of losing the momentum necessary to sustain an ambitious agenda, according to a congressman who rode a Tea Party wave to a historic victory over the second-highest ranking House Republican in 2014.
Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” Thursday that his concern is high.
“We can’t do the tax piece unless we do the health care piece first. Health care has to be done in two months — done.”
On a scale of one to 10, he said, “I’m at a seven or eight.” The Virginia congressman warned of the grave danger of “slow-walking” legislation and said the GOP needs to take bold, decisive action.
Brat noted that some Republican senators have talked about slowing down the Affordable Care Act repeal, while others have begun using the term “repair” rather than “replacing” Obamacare.
Brat laid down a hard deadline — two months. He said the authority to adopt a new health law without a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate is through the mid-year budget passed this year. He said the same process will be needed with the next budget in four months to enact corporate tax reform.
“We can’t do the tax piece unless we do the health care piece first,” he said. “Health care has to be done in two months — done.”
Longtime Republican strategist Ed Rollins, in a separate appearance on the show, agreed.
“The president has moved very quickly on a lot of his initiatives,” he said. “The Congress has been very slow … The Democrats now have game strategy, which is basically be against everything. And the Republican ought to have the opposite strategy of being for just about everything.”
Rollins said congressional Republicans should already have an Obamacare replacement plan after seven years of talking about the issue. He said Congress also needs to move fast to cut business taxes to spark the economy.
They know what they need to do,” he said. They ought to basically get that bill written and done, very quickly.”
Brat said Republican leaders in Congress need a message of the day and better coordination to push it out.
“Our side doesn’t push back,” he said. “Republicans are kind of used to playing by the rules and following the rule of law and that sort of thing … We’re punching bags.”
Brat backed President Donald Trump in a dust-up with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over whether a recent raid in Yemen was a success. McCain has said it cannot be called a success because an American service member lost his life in the fighting.
“Trump has it right on McCain and [South Carolina Republican Sen.] Lindsey Graham and some of the other slow-walkers — talk, talk, talk and no action,” he said.
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Brat also commented on massive resistance organized against Republican members of Congress. LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham noted that some representatives have conducted tele-town halls in their districts for fear of violence breaking out in person.
Brat said he held a Facebook town hall and got 30,000 negative hits in an hour. He said that is a sure sign of an organized campaign, not an organic uprising.
“That’s not my Democratic friends in the community,” he said.
Brat said it has the fingerprints of leftist billionaire George Soros. He said the financier is bankrolling the Indivisible Guide, which states on its website that its goal is to “build a vibrant community of angelic troublemakers.”
Brat, however, flatly rejected descriptions of the leftist activists as the Democratic Tea Party movement.
“It is not,” he said. “The Tea Party was about Taxed Enough Already, the Constitution … And what is the Left? Not one idea. And that’s why they’re embarrassed.”
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