Apparently CNN thinks as little about wasting their viewer's time as Tennessee Rep. Marsh Blackburn thinks of wasting her constituents' time with utterly meaningless votes that are going nowhere to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They actually had this flame thrower on there for the better part of the show. Richard Socarides rightfully called Blackburn out for exactly what she and her fellow House members are doing, which is purely political theater.
Par for the course with their unwillingness to ever admit they're wrong or lying about anything, Blackburn refused to admit that's what they're doing was theater, but then proving his point, said she wished they were taking those votes every single day. If there's one thing Republicans are good at, it is theater because they sure as hell don't care about actually governing. And they continue to prove it with stunts like this one.
Things got a little heated with the back and forth, but that's nothing new for Blackburn.
ROMANS: All right, Congress is back to work this morning after a Fourth of July recess. In just two days, House Republicans plan to call a vote to repeal the president's health care overhaul law.
But it's mostly symbolic, a symbolic vote because any repeal effort would likely die in the Democratic-controlled Senate. And of course, the Supreme Court has ruled on this, it is the law of the land, health care reform.
Yet Republicans want to fight it to the bitter end and I'm wondering, should Congress people be spending more time helping constituents comply with the law rather than continuing all of this uncertainty?
BLACKBURN: Well, when you have 2,300 new regulations and 158 new federal bureaucracies that is are created by this law, then there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of we don't know exactly how it's going to be.
ROMANS: Do you have people in the back office who are answering the phone calls saying if you have fewer than 50 workers, small businesses, don't worry, it doesn't apply to those who have fewer than 50 workers?
BLACKBURN: We have all sorts of information on our web site, Facebook.
ROMANS: So you're going to help people comply?
BLACKBURN: Yes. It's the law of the land.
ROMANS: We're going to make this not come true, not here is how we're going to help you get your business --
BLACKBURN: Our goal -- our goal is going to be to get this off the books. Here is what we want to do --
SOCARIDES: This is like a piece of theatre, all right. This is not going to get through the Senate.
BLACKBURN: Let me tell you this is not a piece of theatre.
SOCARIDES: So you're just doing it to make a point.
BLACKBURIN: No. It is not a piece of theatre because what the American people want to hear Congress say is that Obamacare was a mistake.
SOCARIDES: So you're making a statement.
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