In late June, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), released a financial services appropriations bill that hamstrings the IRS's ability to police the phony "charities" corrupting our politics; bars the SEC from requiring disclosure of political contributions in SEC filings; and, amid sundry other acts of regulatory sabotage, prohibits the IRS from enforcing the ACA's individual mandate. The Appropriations Committee approved the bill yesterday.
Frelinghuysen, a once-moderate Republican driven relentlessly to the right and now riding the Trump train, was the focus of intense citizen action this spring, and a key last-minute opponent of the first iteration of the House ACA repeal/Medicaid destruction act. He then flipped, reportedly under pain of losing his Appropriations chair, and supported the version that passed the House, which of course addressed none of his stated concerns (for Medicaid expansion beneficiaries and people with pre-existing conditions) and in fact made the bill's treatment of the latter worse. Now, he's given his blessing to ACA marketplace sabotage in the event Republicans fail to pass a bill still more horrific than the one he supported. In a press release, he praised the bill for "stopping burdensome regulations before they can damage our economy irreparably."
I have an op-ed in NJ Spotlight, a nonprofit state news source calling Frelinghuysen out for this. I signed it as a member of BlueWaveNJ, a local advocacy group based in Montclair, most of whose members are represented by Frelinghuysen. He encapsulates the descent of the Republican party first into right-wing extremism (he voted to defund Planned Parenthood) and then into fascist fellow traveling and even self-Trumpification (he's been in the spotlight and may be in legal trouble for intimidating a local activist). We want him out.
Frelinghuysen, a once-moderate Republican driven relentlessly to the right and now riding the Trump train, was the focus of intense citizen action this spring, and a key last-minute opponent of the first iteration of the House ACA repeal/Medicaid destruction act. He then flipped, reportedly under pain of losing his Appropriations chair, and supported the version that passed the House, which of course addressed none of his stated concerns (for Medicaid expansion beneficiaries and people with pre-existing conditions) and in fact made the bill's treatment of the latter worse. Now, he's given his blessing to ACA marketplace sabotage in the event Republicans fail to pass a bill still more horrific than the one he supported. In a press release, he praised the bill for "stopping burdensome regulations before they can damage our economy irreparably."
I have an op-ed in NJ Spotlight, a nonprofit state news source calling Frelinghuysen out for this. I signed it as a member of BlueWaveNJ, a local advocacy group based in Montclair, most of whose members are represented by Frelinghuysen. He encapsulates the descent of the Republican party first into right-wing extremism (he voted to defund Planned Parenthood) and then into fascist fellow traveling and even self-Trumpification (he's been in the spotlight and may be in legal trouble for intimidating a local activist). We want him out.
