There's no such thing as perfect legislation in a Democracy, but compromise and getting "as many victories as possible" is a lesson Republicans should heed from Ronald Reagan, Rep. Robert Pittenger wrote in a column for The Wall Street Journal.
Reagan was a master of reaching across the aisle with Democrats to get "70 percent or 80 percent" of what he wanted, Pittenger writes. But what would Reagan, a conservative icon, encounter within his own party crafting the American Health Care Act legislation?
"The American Health Care Act would be a huge conservative win," Pittenger writes. "That's why nothing is more frustrating than watching certain opportunist legislators run to the eagerly awaiting media cameras following Republican conferences or committee hearings and providing sound bites to create another attack story — often replete with half facts, inaccuracies or misinformation."
Pittenger, a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, acknowledges that repealing Obamacare isn't pretty and that certain conservative principles can't be had out of the gate.
"But should we, in Reagan's words, 'jump off the cliff,' or should we celebrate that this legislation includes the most transformational reform to Medicaid since its inception 50 years ago?" Pittenger wrote.
Compromise, get what you can get now and live to fight another day, Pittenger writes.
"I've never voted for a perfect bill. In a democracy, there is no such thing. Legislation that finds as many victories as possible within current political realities should be our objective," Pittenger concludes.
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