Cornyn: 'We Need To Keep Expectations... Fairly Modest' About Health Care Repeal (VIDEO)

Shortly after the passage of health care reform, Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) found himself one of the lone voices of moderation inside the Republican tent when he told the Huffington Post that the party would only seek to repeal parts -- and not the entirety -- of the law.

The National Senatorial Campaign Committee chair was criticized by conservatives for throwing cold water on the repeal effort and, subsequently, began changing his tune. But even then it seemed like Cornyn had a more sober-minded understanding of what exactly the GOP could (and politically should) do with respect to the health care law.

Fast forward and the GOP's health-care repeal campaign has morphed into a campaign to de-fund health care. The logic being that while President Obama could veto the former, Congress (under Republican hands) would have full control over the latter. And yet, in an interview with PBS NewsHour, it is Cornyn once again who is urging colleges to temper their expectations.

"I think [we will introduce a bill to repeal health care and financial regulatory reform] pretty quickly," said Cornyn.

"The fact of the matter, though, is that President Obama will remain president of the United States and he could veto any legislation we were able to pass. Even if we controlled the House, unless we controlled the Senate and got 60 votes, we wouldn't be able to pass any corresponding legislation in the Senate. So I think, we need to keep expectations, again, fairly modest as far as what we can do over the next two years. I think it is a chance to work together with the president if he wants to work with us like President Clinton did following the 1994 election to pass things like welfare reform on a bipartisan basis. But, I think, if the president doesn't reach across the aisle and actually try to do things on a bipartisan basis, the likelihood is that not a whole lot of legislating will be done."

Asking Republicans to keep expectations "fairly modest" is not the most motivational message to the base. But it does serve a larger purpose for Cornyn and others -- preemptively excusing the GOP for not undoing the entirety of the Obama agenda. The president will remain the president, after all. And it suits Republican lawmakers well to have voter displeasure directed at his legislation rather than their promises to undo it.

The relevant portion of the interview starts at the 7:00 minute mark.

Comments

[DevonTexas]

11:14 AM on 10/01/2010

Why do I get the sense that Cornyn is an anomaly. If the Repubes get control of the Senate, we'll never hear from him again as a Repube leader.

[Gary Christopherson]

10:27 AM on 10/01/2010

People who have made it their mission to defund or repeal health reform don’t get it. Look around you. Talk to your family, your neighbors and your co-workers. Ask them if they feel secure when it comes to the current state of health insurance. Talk to a person who is uninsured. Talk to a person at risk if and when they lose their job. Talk to a person who is underinsured and faces bankruptcy from a major, costly illness.
The answer is not repeal. The challenge is to make it better. Make sure it is affordable for people, for employers and for taxpayers. Make sure quality improves by providing care producing the best outcomes. Make sure access throughout America is ensured.
Yes, the work on ensuring healthy Americans building a healthy America is far from done. We get far too little health for the amount of national treasure we spend.
Repeal is not the answer. What America needs and demands is that its political leadership make and deliver on a nonpartisan commitment to building the healthy America that is so long overdue.

Gary Christopherson, www.ThrivingFuture.org

[bmike]

10:01 AM on 10/01/2010

The man is saying don't expect much,we just want the job because they don't come easy anymore.We either have to lie or be unemployed is what he is trying to say.

[grf67]

08:22 AM on 10/01/2010

A month before the elections and the repubs are already backing down from their broadcast talking points. What hypocrites.

[taddles]

05:25 AM on 10/01/2010

"we need to keep expectations, again, fairly modest as far as what we can do over the next two years."

Which is nice way of saying "without a majority in the house, a 60+ vote majority in the Senate, the white house and at least two more SC Justices in our pockets, we aren't passing diddly to repeal or diminish health care.

[AFunkyTime]

02:05 AM on 10/01/2010

If you are STILL against health care reform you are;

- easily duped by disinformation and fearmongering
-being paid by some lobbyist and owe your soul to them as long as you are voted back in
-are a member of the republican party and vote according to what Ru.sh Limbaugh or Karl R.ove tells you to
-are white and cannot be for ANYTHING that a black man is (even if he is right)
-are rich and just don't care
-HAVE insurance paid for you and just don't care
-HAVE never been sick and just don't care or think about it
-don't believe the mound of truth in statistics that the system is broken
-don't care that YOU pay 1000 dollars for everybody that uses emergency rooms without insurance
-don't care if people suffer with the worry of paying health bills or that they lose everything they have along with their families( inclusive of innocent children )
-don't care that 62% of personal bankruptcies are related to medical bills
.don't care that single payer is the best and most efficient system implemented in most other western
democracies
-don't care that people may d1e as a result from one or all of the above..

HOW is that American ? or even human -- ?

Health care reform PASSED and along with it comes the decimation of the party of NO in November.

Regards,
Funky :)

[evangelicalchimp]

08:30 PM on 09/30/2010

"and by modest , i mean forget it slacker"

he needs to insert a pine tree in his colon and sing us an Ave Maria

[metroretro]

06:24 PM on 09/30/2010

For those thinking about sitting the mid-terms out, the thought that John Cornyn is the voice of reason in the republican tent should send you running to the polls in November.

[TexasDem0]

06:19 PM on 09/30/2010

No one has done more than Sen. John Cornyn to make sure our expectations of the GOP would be modest or less.

[CarolinaYankee]

09:31 AM on 10/01/2010

I KNEW it, I knew there were some Texans out there who are sick of this guy, get rid of him and the rest like him pleeeeeze.

[Jim Pasterczyk]

04:26 PM on 09/30/2010

Boy if you wanted a perfect example of a GOP WASP you couldn't do much better than Cornyn. Right out of central casting.

[jbvbwysu]

03:59 PM on 09/30/2010

The Regressive Republicans will repeal HCR as soon as they get done overturning Social Security, Medicare, and Roe v. Wade.

[taddles]

05:28 AM on 10/01/2010

None of which they will ever be able to do without control of the house, a filibuster proof majority in the senate, the white house and a couple more SC justices.

Considering that the Repubs are going to be spending the next two years covering their backs from the "friendly fire" of their tea bagger breatheren I'm not worried that any real "reform" is going to be happening.

[huffedandpuffed]

03:57 PM on 09/30/2010

If the Tea Party is something "truly" different, they should try running on their own. Do you think FOX would start changing it's tone if it realized that the Tea Party would just fraction the republican votes.

[Janicot]

07:48 PM on 09/30/2010

I don't believe the Tea Party is anything more than protective cover for the rebranding of the post-Bush era GOP. I mean, listen to Cornyn - "don't curb your enthusiasm, but lower your expectations." HUH? Are we still talking about "Godless Marxism" here? Now it's starting to look like the only thing the GOP really thinks is wrong with HCR is the President's race and political party.

[taddles]

05:29 AM on 10/01/2010

It already has, you might consider that the casualties of the tea bagger assault so far have almost exclusively been Moderate Repubs.

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

03:52 PM on 09/30/2010

Pelosi vowed to end the War in Iraq if Dems won the House back in the 2006 election. She won and then reneged.

The Speaker has dictatorial power over which legislation is taken up by the House. And since ALL appropriations must be approved by the House, she could have single-handedly de-funded the Iraq war at any time since 2006.

If Repubs win the House, they can de-fund any facet of government they choose, and the Senate and Obama can't do a thing about it.

[Jim Pasterczyk]

04:24 PM on 09/30/2010

You don't really understand how our government works or what the politics of the times were, do you?

[Janicot]

07:50 PM on 09/30/2010

He certainly doesn't, but then again he probably won't take Civics until he's a 7th-grader.

[taddles]

05:32 AM on 10/01/2010

What part of the war in Iraq is over don't you understand?

So what, the Repubs are going to come in and defund the government? Is your grasp of history that shallow? Newt did that back in '96 and it got him fired by his own party and booted out of congress.

LOL, please, bring it on.

[CarolinaYankee]

09:32 AM on 10/01/2010

Hey, speaking of that, is there any hope DeMented will get booted soon?

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

03:48 PM on 09/30/2010

Repubs need to learn a lesson from the hapless Dems.

When financial reform was being debated in the House, what did Pelosi do?

Did she pass a strong, progressive bill through the House? No, she first looked to the Senate, realized that they would only approve of something watered down, and then "kept expectations modest" by passing a watered down bill through the House.

The end result was that the watered down legislation passed, and the Repubs in the Senate never had to vote against a progressive bill. Pelosi ended up looking weak and ineffectual, and faces disgruntled voters on the left.

She should have passed a strong bill through the House where there is no Repub opposition. Then the Senate should have taken up that bill, forced Repubs to filibuster it, then come back and pass the moderate bill. The end result is the same as far as legislation is concerned, BUT Pelosi would have laid out the Progressive vision for all to see, and the Repubs would have been on record for opposing it.

The Repubs must pass a full repeal bill through the House if they have control there. They must try to get a repeal bill or amendment onto the floor of the Senate, and force the Dems in both chambers to vote against it. If by some miracle they actually get it passed, they must force Obama to veto it. THEN they can come back and work on alternatives to defund or cripple it.

[meko]

03:51 PM on 09/30/2010

That's hardball.

The bummer for Democrats is that Obama might not veto it.

[taddles]

05:42 AM on 10/01/2010

LOL, the bummer is you won't have 60 votes in the senate to pass any repeal.

That's spitball.

[Knowitall]

04:10 PM on 09/30/2010

That all sounds very good, but what Pelosi did MIGHT have worked for the Republicans, but what you are forgetting is that Democrats don't vote in lockstep. Democrats have to propose legislation that ALL Democrats will vote for, because NO Republicans at all are going to vote for it.

Democrats have to contend with the "Ben Nelson type Blue Dogs" or the Democrats from "red" states, who are more likely than not to vote with the Republicans, especially on fiscal legislation. If you want to perceive Pelosi as "weak and ineffectual" that's your right. I view her as realistic and pragmatic.

No party EVER gets the whole hog when proposing legislation. NEVER. Bills are written and rewritten, trimmed and fattened, introduced and tabled, ad nauseum--100s of them in every session of Congress. It is a fairy tale to think that what comes out in the end is going to be exactly what you started out with. Some legislation with end up being "strenghtened" others will be "weakened". It's weakness or strength is completely in the eye of the beholder, depending on the expectations of the beholder. But, if the bill is passed, at least you've gotten
your agenda Started. I know it's not pretty, but that's how it works.

[Sally1952]

03:29 PM on 09/30/2010

So after months of lying to the masses saying the Rethugs will repeal healthcare reform, Cornyn finally tells the truth that they won't be able to do anything as President Obama would use his veto power. The sad thing is that there are so many people in this country that didn't know this all along, and I'll bet the majority of them watch FAUX News.

[meko]

03:52 PM on 09/30/2010

They never intended to repeal the mandates. That benefits big insurers.

They only intend to defund the subsidies. They'll go after it with the same "shiftless people on Medicaid" argument that their base loves. (Because we know what the code words on that are).

[taddles]

05:51 AM on 10/01/2010

LOL, so now it's not about the mandates. You're pathetic.

You're not repealing anything and you're not defunding anything. Dems will just attach program funding amendments to every single bill and watch while you try to explain to your constituents why the Repubs just defunded the boarder patrol or a Repub favorite, The Office of Labor-Management Standards. I'd love to see the Union watchdog organization completely defunded by the Republicans.

Gonna be kinda fun seeing the Repubs squirm when Dems start using their tactics against them.