What Republicans Can -- And Can't -- Do about ObamaCare | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

What Republicans Can -- And Can't -- Do about ObamaCare | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon had asked for his state to be exempted from many of the law's provisions, including the individual mandate. Republicans should push to give it to him, and encourage other states to apply as well.

Republicans should also start laying out their own positive alternatives. It's not enough to simply repeal ObamaCare. Republicans will have to show that they have their own proposals for dealing with health care costs and the uninsured. They had a number of good ideas during the debate over reform, ranging from allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines to changing the tax treatment of individually owned insurance, but those ideas couldn't get much of a hearing while the president controlled the agenda. Now they can.

Finally, Republicans in the House now control the power of the purse. They should refuse to fund implementation of the bill. For example, the IRS says it will need to hire as many as 13,500 additional IRS agents to administer the law's unpopular individual mandate. Congress should refuse to appropriate the money to do so."