Now that Congress has recovered from the Tucson shootings, it's back to business as usual. That means moving forward on their largely symbolic "Repealing the Job Folding, Spindling and Mutilating Health Care Law" act, or whatever it is they're calling it today. Speaker Boehner (R-OH) has said that the people of the country have spoken (re: the election results), and they want the law repealed.

Sadly, the people DID speak during the last election, and what they were saying is "we want jobs". It was Boehner (and the rest) that meshed that together in their imaginations their own corporate desires to revoke the health care law. Repealing the law (were it even possible) would also have a negative effect on the budget deficit, something else that voters were concerned with.

The Jobs issue is one that has had voters concerned since 2008, when the Bush-era policies of bad accounting and a laissez-faire attitude toward government regulation resulted in an economic collapse and catastrophic jobs loss. Even though job growth has been improving since then, it has not been fast enough. Recently, though, big companies are reopening shuttered plants and rehiring laid-off workers. Maybe the Republicans are only looking at small business?... well - jobs grew there too. Sure the growth is slow, but it's not negative, which is what would happen if the "Obamacare" act was murdering jobs in cold blood.

But - if you don't believe my stats (or consider them anecdotal), what about a reputable news agency like the AP? According to them, the GOP's job-killing rhetoric is just that: bunk:

So what the bill actually does, is kill the NEED to have a job in order to get health insurance. Considering that half of the people in the US have what would be considered a "pre-existing condition", you'd think they'd WANT the health care bill in place. After all - that's one of those nasty insurance company get-out-of-jail-free cards that they implemented for themselves (and which the new law does away with). In this case, you'd be right:

(bold-face mine...)

That 18 percent likely consists of Tea Partiers, uber-libertarians, and health insurance company CEOs. The sad part of it is how many people "think" things that are factually wrong. Either the bill does or doesn't decrease the deficit - this is not a matter of opinion. The non-partisan CBO has declared it decreases the deficit, so it appears that 62 percent of those polled have been told a lie and believe it. Thanks FOX News - better take that "News" part out of your name if you can't get the facts correct.

So in essence, the Republicans are spending time (and tax payer dollars) trying to pass a bill in the House that they know will fail in the Senate and/or be vetoed by President Obama, in an effort to please 18% of the electorate. Is this what America voted for?