The Republicans' Conflict Over Mandates

Republicans have a problem with mandates. As in, are they for ’em or against ’em? Most Republicans in Congress oppose the federal mandate for health insurance coverage that’s at the heart of the Democrats’ Affordable Care Act. Michele Bachmann called the law a “social engineering playground of the Left.” When it comes to other issues, though, Republicans aren’t as bothered by the idea of government telling people what to do. In December the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would allow states to require people to take a drug test as a condition for getting unemployment insurance. The measure, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, also required applicants either to have a high school diploma or be enrolled in a program to earn a GED. Those are … mandates. Yet only 14 Republicans voted against the bill (and only 10 Democrats voted in favor).

That stand may prove to be mostly symbolic, for now, because this week Republican leaders dropped their demand to include GED classes as a condition for extending emergency jobless benefits through the end of 2012. They still want to let states drug-test, but only if there’s cause for suspicion. It wasn’t a change of heart that caused Republicans to back away. The retreat was tactical, part of a tentative deal between congressional negotiators that would also extend the payroll tax cut and the Medicare “doc fix.” That means the conundrum—when are mandates good and when are they bad?—remains very much a live issue for the GOP as it tries to distinguish itself as the party that wants to get government out of your way.