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To disregard the eradication of Christianity in Nigeria would embolden jihadists and signal that the blood of the martyrs means nothing to us.Obamacare was never affordable — and neither is cowardice
Twelve years ago this week, the federal government shut down over a fight that should have mattered more than any budget squabble in modern history: Obamacare.
In 2013, House and Senate conservatives — led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — refused to fund Barack Obama’s budget unless the pending health care law was stripped of its most ruinous provisions. They warned it would crush Americans with skyrocketing premiums and limited choice.
Instead of begging Democrats for a short-term continuing resolution, Republicans should force the debate they’ve been avoiding.
They were right. And today, watching those predictions come true, the defeat still stings. Democrats always stay united on health care. Republicans, even now, act as if the issue doesn’t exist.
The lost fight
In that 2013 showdown, Republicans held the stronger hand. They controlled the House and could have passed a full funding bill minus Obamacare. The law was still unpopular, the website was collapsing, and millions were losing coverage.
Democrats had already lost more than 60 House seats and a generation of state-level power because of their support for the 2009 law. The “dependency” phase hadn’t yet taken hold, but the costs were already exploding — premiums jumped 47% in the first year alone.
Yet GOP leaders sabotaged their own side. After Cruz’s 21-hour Senate filibuster demanding a defund vote, the Republican establishment turned its fire inward.
John McCain scolded Cruz from the Senate floor for comparing the fight to World War II and calling it a “great disservice” to veterans. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dismissed the strategy as “not a smart play.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned against risking a shutdown “doomed to fail.”
Instead of hammering Democrats for creating unaffordable health care, the GOP obsessed over process. The pressure worked. On October 17, Republicans surrendered unconditionally — and Obamacare became untouchable.
At the time, I wrote:
If we are resigned to letting go of the Obamacare fight in the budget, there is no way it will ever be repealed, even partially repealed. By 2017 ... there will be over 30 million people either willingly or unwillingly dependent on Obamacare. Even if it’s barely workable, it will be the only care they have. We cannot repeal it.
That prediction also came true.
Failure by surrender
Twelve years later, after winning full control of government, Republicans still couldn’t repeal the law. Now, even with a new GOP trifecta, they’re struggling to stop Joe Biden’s insolvent expansion of it.
On paper, Democrats should have the weaker hand today. They control no chamber of Congress and are threatening a shutdown to preserve health care subsidies no one voted for.
Yet they’ve managed to frame the fight around the “cost of health care” — a problem created entirely by Obamacare itself. Republicans’ silence only amplifies the lie.
Democrats are betting that voters no longer remember why premiums exploded or why subsidies now cover nearly every enrollee. They’re counting on a GOP that can’t articulate the obvious: Obamacare made health care unaffordable and fueled the broader inflation strangling families.
Even the Washington Post recently admitted in an editorial that “the real problem is that the Affordable Care Act was never actually affordable.”
A second chance
Republicans now have the opportunity they squandered a decade ago. With control of the White House and Congress, they can finally make the case for repeal and for genuine, market-based reform.
They can remind Americans that we’re paying Cadillac prices for catastrophic coverage — massive deductibles, 33% denial rates, and bloated UnitedHealth plans protected by federal subsidy. They can expose the system for what it is: a monopoly masquerading as compassion.
RELATED:Smash the health care cartel, free the market
Instead of begging Democrats for a short-term continuing resolution, Republicans should force the debate they’ve been avoiding. Health care can’t be fixed by tinkering at the edges. It must be freed from Washington’s grip.
Twelve years ago, Republicans claimed they lacked the leverage to stop Obamacare. Today, Democrats have no leverage at all — and they’re the ones complaining about the costs of their own creation.
God doesn’t hand out many second chances, especially in politics. Republicans just got one. They’d better use it.
2025 Budget Review Shows We Can’t Afford To Extend ‘Temporary’ Obamacare Subsidies
CBO's review of the 2025 fiscal year shows Republicans have every reason to reject Democrats’ demands to end the 'Schumer Shutdown.''PAY OUR TROOPS': Trump unveils creative solution to minimize military's shutdown pain
President Donald Trump is implementing a temporary solution to minimize the pain inflicted on American servicemen during the Democrat-induced government shutdown.
Trump announced Saturday that he has identified funds for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use to ensure American troops don't miss a paycheck on Oct. 15. This action comes after the Senate reached a stalemate, sending lawmakers home until votes resume Tuesday.
'I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE.'
With no end to the shutdown in sight, Trump decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Chuck Schumer recently said, 'Every day gets better' during their Radical Left Shutdown," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday. "I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of 'Leader' Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th."
RELATED: White House deploys nuclear option amid Democrat-induced shutdown stalemate
"That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th," Trump added. "We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS."
Democrats allowed government funding to lapse past the Sept. 30 deadline, refusing to pass the Republican-led continuing resolution. Although spending fights have turned partisan in the past, Republicans simply proposed a clean 90-page CR that kept funding levels at the same rates that Democrats voted for in the past. Their bill had no partisan line items, with the only anomaly being a bipartisan boost in security funding for politicians following Charlie Kirk's assassination.
On the other hand, Democrats proposed a $1.5 trillion funding bill that is chock-full of ideological provisions aimed at reversing the legislative accomplishments Republicans secured with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Democrats have also attempted to make the spending fight about renegotiating Obama-era health care subsidies, although they don't expire until the end of the year.
RELATED: White House dares Democrats with nuclear response to looming shutdown
"I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown," Trump said. "The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
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Trillions on pills, not prevention: The chronic disease cover-up
For decades, the government’s dietary guidelines have dictated what Americans eat, and surprise, surprise — we’re sicker than ever.
Today, 60% of the American population have at least one chronic disease, and roughly 85% of the nation's $5.3 trillion annual health care spending goes toward treating chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease, and cancer.
We know that the number-one factor in chronic disease is poor diet, and yet the government has long pushed the very highly processed foods that make us sick, while promoting pharmaceutical drugs as the magic answer.
For example, it’s not uncommon to hear the government debate how to lower insulin prices.
“You can just eliminate the need for insulin by just getting people off the one macronutrient that causes blood sugar to spike, and that is carbohydrate,” investigative science journalist Nina Teicholz told BlazeTV host Nicole Shanahan on a recent episode of “Back to the People.”
“The current thinking is: Don't restrain yourself — eat the cake, eat the bread, but then you have to cover it with insulin. How about just don't eat the bread, don't eat the cake, and reverse your condition?” she asks.
Nina expresses frustration that such a simple fix — one that would save us “almost a billion dollars a day” and “reverse other chronic conditions” — has been so impossible to push in the public square.
“Nobody discusses this. It's like a taboo subject,” she laments.
Nicole agrees. “No, we have a president [Joe Biden] and a senator, Bernie Sanders, standing together hugging one another, talking about reducing the cost of drugs. … There’s not a single politician out there that is charting a path for people to get off of drug reliance.”
The duo reflect back on the disappointing White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health hosted by the Biden-Harris administration in 2022, which Nicole helped raise funding for.
Sugar — perhaps the biggest contributor to chronic diseases — wasn’t even mentioned.
“What came out of that [conference] was a huge amount of investment in the fake-food sector. It was fake protein, fake seafood, more fake meats, fake dairy, fake eggs. Those are ultra-processed foods that replace natural whole foods,” says Nina.
The other result of the conference was “a total doubling down on the dietary guidelines, which have been shown to not work.”
Nicole was hopeful that the 2018 Farm Bill, which governs agricultural and food programs, including farm subsidies, crop insurance, nutrition assistance (like SNAP), and rural development, would "[support] farmers who are producing really great, clean food,” but sadly, the Farm Bill has “made virtually no progress” when it comes to health.
“If anything ... it's added protections to the agrochemical businesses,” she laments.
Further, “SNAP has grown so enormously and without any restrictions or caps on how SNAP is spent. Soda remains the largest single item that consumers purchase with their SNAP benefits.”
Why is the government so resistant to moving toward the simple adjustments that would reverse chronic diseases? As Nicole and Nina see it, it's obvious: “Pretty much every member of Congress is supported by the pharmaceutical industry.”
“They make profits when people are unhealthy, not healthy,” Nina says frankly.
To hear more of the conversation, watch the full interview above.
Want more from Nicole Shanahan?
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White House deploys nuclear option amid Democrat-induced shutdown stalemate
With no end in sight for the government shutdown, President Donald Trump's administration is turning up the heat on Democrats.
The Office of Management and Budget has officially begun issuing reduction-in-force notices that will lead to "substantial" layoffs across several federal agencies, an OMB spokesperson told Blaze News. OMB Director Russell Vought also confirmed the layoffs in a post on X Friday, saying, "The RIFs have begun."
'Every day it's actually getting worse for them.'
Vought originally directed agencies to begin drafting RIF notices back in September in anticipation of the government shutdown. Trump also signaled on Thursday that mass layoffs and program cuts were imminent, warning that Democrats would get "a little taste of their own medicine."
"We're only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you," Trump said during the Cabinet meeting Thursday.
RELATED: White House dares Democrats with nuclear response to looming shutdown
"Chuck Schumer proclaimed this morning that every day gets better for them," Trump said. "No, every day it's actually getting worse for them, and they're having a rebellion in the Democrat Party because they want to stop."
Although Democrats have continued to dig their heels in, Republicans have remained unified behind the president, arguing there's nothing to negotiate. Going into the 10th day of the shutdown, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made his media rounds on Friday by attending several pressers throughout the day, even joining the House Freedom Caucus for its historic, first-ever press call.
During the call, Johnson also hinted that Congress may be considering another rescissions package and that lawmakers will be hearing more "in the days to come."
As of this writing, Democrats have voted to keep the government closed over a half dozen times since the September 30 funding deadline lapsed. The Republican-led funding bill Democrats have so heavily protested is a clean, nonpartisan CR that keeps the government open at the current spending levels, with the exception of increased funding for security following Charlie Kirk's assassination.
In contrast, the Democrats' funding bill boasts a $1.5 trillion price tag, aiming to reverse virtually every legislative accomplishment Republicans secured with Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Even with competing legislation, Congress has reached a stalemate, with both the House and the Senate out of session until Tuesday.
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Trump teases shutdown consequences for Democrats: 'A little taste of their own medicine'
Over a week into the Democrat-induced government shutdown, President Donald Trump revealed just how far the administration is willing to go.
During a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Trump said Democrats will get "a little taste of their own medicine." The government has officially entered its ninth day of the shutdown, and neither Democrats nor Republicans seem to have budged. As a result, Trump is turning up the pressure.
'They wanted to do this.'
"Despite all of the damage that it's caused, the shutdown, it's been, you know, pretty damaging, I mean, not yet because it's early, but it gets a little bit worse as it goes along," Trump said.
As a result, Trump said his administration will "be making cuts that will be permanent."
"We're only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you," Trump said.
"We'll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs. ... They wanted to do this, so we'll give them a little taste of their own medicine," Trump added.
Democrats have voted several times to keep the government closed since the October 1 funding deadline. The Republican-led funding bill is a clean continuing resolution with no partisan anomalies. The only change in the GOP's bill is a bipartisan increase in security funding for lawmakers following Charlie Kirk's assassination.
In contrast, the Democrat-led funding bill boasts a $1.5 trillion price tag and aims to reverse most if not all legislative accomplishments achieved through Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
"Chuck Schumer proclaimed this morning that every day gets better for them," Trump said. "No, every day it's actually getting worse for them, and they're having a rebellion in the Democrat Party because they want to stop."
"This is a confession that he's acting, not to serve the people, but to serve the partisan interests of his party," Trump added. "And I don't think he's serving them well because ... they just lost an election in a landslide."
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Current Congressional Spending Levels Are Already A Compromise With Democrats
Democrats are pushing for an unserious, radical set of policy changes that would add another $1.5 trillion to the debt.Shutdown Democrats Demand Concessions They Never Gave Republicans
Democrats’ present conditions for ending the shutdown essentially amount to a demand that they succeed where Republicans failed.Today's top stories
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