House Republicans waste taxpayer dollars for political theater

Multiple votes on repealing health care law (Obamacare) serve no purpose

As the father of a four-year old child, I'm accustomed to repetition. When my son asks "why?" more than ten times in a row, or otherwise repeats himself in some way, it can be enough to drive me up the wall.

The way I remedy this is I calmly explain that once or twice is enough, that it's not necessary to ask that many times. He usually "gets it" right away. (Oreos are naturally distributed in a celebratory fashion.)

Congressional Republicans, on the other hand, can't seem to "get it" at all.

Last week, the House of Representatives once again voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (commonly called "Obamacare"). Knowing that the bill could never survive a Senate vote (much less President Barack Obama's veto pen), House Republicans nevertheless decided to waste your time and tax dollars anyway, citing the need to make a symbolic vote.

Such votes do indeed serve a purpose once or twice, or even five times. But this vote wasn't the fifth, the tenth, or even fifteenth time the GOP voted on the measure. It was the 33rd.

Taken together, the Republicans have wasted 89 hours and about $50 million in taxpayer dollars. And while conservatives in Congress have dedicated their focus towards ending Obamacare (without any real plans to replace it with ANYTHING), the issue they campaigned on in 2010 -- jobs -- has taken a backseat, behind this and other issues that were thought to have been resolved.

For a party that sadistically promotes austerity and budget cuts that affect the working classes of this country, the GOP seems to see no problem whatsoever when it comes to spending tax dollars on political theatrics.