EDITORIAL: A congressional Christmas ‘gift’

One thing about Christmas presents from the lawmakers in Congress — you’re never sure of what you’re getting and whether you really want to open it.

It’s like last-minute Christmas Eve gifts that get picked up heading home from work. You had all year to buy them. You had planned to take your time, make a deliberate list of what you wanted to include. You were going to work out the spending plan to ensure you had the money to cover them. All that’s out of the door when your primary goal suddenly becomes finding something — anything — to wrap up (often sloppily), getting to the shortest line at a register so you can slap down your plastic, regardless of what it does to your card balance, and heading out the door for home before the store closes.

Which is what the Democrats did a number of years ago that gave America Obamacare. And it also appears to be what Republicans did to get their tax reform package pushed through Congress this week.

Experience, it turns out, is only a good teacher if the students — the lawmakers — learn from it.

In 2009, with Christmas bearing down, the Affordable Care Act, many of its details and effects unknown, was shoved through Congress unilaterally by Democrats to fulfill a promise. (The Democratic-majority House agreed in March 2010 to the bill as amended and passed on Christmas Eve 2009 by the Senate, which came under GOP control in 2010.) With the political animosity between the two major parties, improvements to Obamacare have not been made as Democrats dug in to protect it and Republicans flailed away, trying to kill it. The people who have suffered from this acute case of political myopia have been the many Americans and health care providers who have taken it in the wallet.

Now with tax reform, we have similar concerns. It is partisan legislation — Republicans this time, who appeared desperate for a political win, even one that adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit. With the GOP hailing it the biggest change since the Reagan reforms, there have been a lot of promises about how it will affect Average Joe and Jane America. Republicans contend there will be great gains for everyone, and Democrats urge people to run back inside the house because disaster is about to drop out of the sky — basically the reversal of the two parties’ respective positions on Obamacare.

What is concerning is, in addition to another political overspending can being kicked down the road, there appears to be sloppy wrapping on this legislation, too. It’s likely there are unintended consequences that will manifest from the negotiations that cobbled this legislation together to meet an artificial deadline that lawmakers felt was critical. To be sure, there are smart people who will pore over every line of this new tax legislation, looking for ways to provide their clients with advantages.

As with Obamacare, we regret that Washington continues to operate dysfunctionally. Certainly, a fairer tax system that allows all boats to rise is something that is in the country’s best interest, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or an independent. Had everyone been at the table with a sincere desire to do what was best for the American people, this could have been done better and sooner, giving Americans more than a scant few days to prepare for a brand new world of taxation.

After the ACA was signed by President Obama in March 2010 and the problems with it began to emerge, the Democrats no longer had the ability to push through corrections and Republicans had no desire to help fix something they opposed. The question now is whether Republicans will be able to hold on to their majorities in Congress so that when the inevitable fixes are needed in their signature legislation, they can get them done to Americans’ satisfaction. That will determine whether this truly is the GOP’s greatest win in a generation or its own “Obamacare” that will haunt its candidates at the polling booths for years to come.