Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speak Paul Ryan to put together a deal with Democrats on a healthcare bill.
Hewitt made his comments in a column in The Washington Post.
"They (McConnell and Ryan) and their lieutenants could decide to pivot from healthcare to racking up small victories and awaiting reinforcements from the 2018 elections," Hewitt wrote. "Or they could go for a big deal with Democrats. It's a tough choice for [Speaker Paul] Ryan and [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell, but I'm hoping they opt for the latter."
And he added: "The GOP Congress has failed. Unless there's a Lazarus-like resurrection of the health-care bill, the session is effectively over."
Hewitt maintained a bipartisan effort is the best available option.
"The alternative to waiting for 2019 is a bipartisan approach — if Democrats will have it," he said. "A healthcare deal could be done, leaving the fringes of both party caucuses on the outside looking in. Devolution of authority over Medicaid to the states, and repeal of the insurance mandate and absurd taxes such as the medical device tax, are the GOP must-haves. The Democrats will have their list.
"Odds of success increase if the parties go big at the start by removing the sequester's limits on defense spending and adding immigration reform to the deal: appropriations for President [Donald] Trump's wall paired with legalization of the law-abiding, undocumented population, but no path to citizenship."
And he maintained congressional leaders from both parties should get together with "a half-dozen of the smartest members from both parties to work on an expedited basis and go big."
Hewitt noted both parties have concerns looking ahead to 2018.
"If Republicans score enough small victories between now and November 2018 — cutting corporate taxes and confirming all Court of Appeals judges and perhaps next summer another member of the Supreme Court — it may be possible to hold both houses of Congress" he said. "Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., is a dead man walking for his role in pulling the first thread that led to the unraveling of 'repeal and replace'" Obamacare.
"The GOP lacks policy victories, thanks to imprudent Freedom Caucus members and scared moderates," he said. "The Democrats are lost in Trump hatred to the point where a large part of the country thinks that they and the mainstream media are deranged."
And he claimed citizens are giving up on representative government.
"So why not swing for the fences?" he said.
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