The Longest-Serving Congressman On The 41st Obamacare Repeal: ‘Reject This Nonsense’

“Well, here we go again,” Rep. John Dingell said on Thursday morning.

“This is the 41st time Republicans have tried to gut the Affordable Care Act. They don’t understand that you are supposed to respect the will of the people and to carry forward the business of the nation. What a shame that we’ve had that kind of behavior on the other side of the aisle.”

For the 87-year-old Dingell, implementation of health care reform is both the culmination of a lifetime of work in office and a continuation of a family legacy of championing the creation of America’s social safety net. The Democrat from Michigan holds the distinction of being the longest-serving congressperson in American history. He was presiding over the House on the day Medicare passed the lower chamber of Congress and his father — Rep. John D. Dingell, Sr. — helped write Social Security.

The congressman called the Republicans’ latest reasoning for trying to repeal the law — income verification of those who will receive Obamacare subsidies — “obfuscation and deceit.” He noted that both the IRS and Social Security Adminstration will be verifying incomes, with additional verification required if there is a discrepancy.

“This is a lot of witchcraft and baloney,” Dingell said.

What’s great about the GOP’s Ahab-like obsession with destroying Obamacare is that the gist of their argument has become, “We’re afraid too many Americans are going to get tax credits.”

John Dingell is old enough to remember when Republicans used to like tax credits, as are most people who were paying attention before 2009.

“This is the 41st time we’ve engaged in this nonsense, wasting about a million and half dollars each hour we’re doing this,” he said.

“I urge my colleagues to reject this nonsense.”

The bill passed and will never be considered in the Senate, but instead will become the subject line for dozens of Republican fundraising emails.