Randy Krehbiel
Tulsa World Reporter
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Congressional Republicans and Democrats might not be as far apart on as many things as one might think, judging from 1st District Congressman Kevin Hern’s remarks to the Tulsa 9.12 Project on Friday.
Where they do disagree, though, they disagree a lot.
“We just had a hearing last week, about nine hours on health care,” Hern told the group. “The thing about the health care stuff is all bipartisan — except for the premium tax credits.”
The credits in question are a COVID-era enhancement utilized mainly by middle- and lower-middle income Americans to help pay for insurance from the Affordable Care Act.
“How many in here railed against the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — back in the day? Pretty much every Republican did. All we’re saying right now is, let the premium tax credits expire and go back to (original) Obamacare.”
Senate Democrats have given the majority a list of concessions they want in exchange for the votes needed to pass a continuing resolution and avert a partial government shutdown beginning Wednesday.
The list is a fairly lengthy one but the top item seems to be extension of the insurance premium tax credits.
Like many Republicans, Hern suggested Democratic Leader Charles Schumer is under the gun because of criticism from more liberal elements of the party, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
“I actually wrote this down about four weeks ago, that Chuck Schumer would shut down the government for at least a week because when he agreed to a clean CR back in March, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said he was weak,” Hern said.
Asked several questions about the so-called Epstein files, Hern said he is for releasing everything in Congress’ possession but has little say-so in the matter.
“If I were speaker of the House, it would be on the floor (for a vote),” Hern said. “Just go Google my name and Epstein. That’s all you’ve got to do. And you’ll see time and time again where I’ve told the President, I’ve said it out loud on national news — we need transparency.”
Hern indicated he has not agreed with every step taken by the Trump administration but said its general direction, at least in terms of trying to reduce the federal bureaucracy, is similar to what Democratic President Bill Clinton did 30 years ago.
“While it seems a little awkward the way the president’s doing it … there’s not a single thing he’s doing right now — I should probably be not quite so definitive — that he’s wanting to do to try to expand the size of government,” Hern said.
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
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Randy Krehbiel
Tulsa World Reporter
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