House Freedom Caucus Officially Backs New Obamacare Repeal Amendment

UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 24: From left, Reps. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, leave a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the Capitol, February 24, 2016. (Photo By Tom Wi... UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 24: From left, Reps. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, leave a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the Capitol, February 24, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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The conservative House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday afternoon announced that the caucus would support the House bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, the American Health Care Act, with a new proposed amendment.

The move was not a surprise. The negotiations in the weeks since the original bill was pulled from the House floor for lack of votes have focused on moving the bill further to right the win Freedom Caucus support. The big question now is whether it’s moved too far to the right to win enough moderate Republican votes.

“Over the past couple months, House conservatives have worked tirelessly to improve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to make it better for the American people. Due to improvements to the AHCA and the addition of Rep. Tom MAcArthur’s proposed amendment, the House Freedom Caucus has taken an official position in support of the current proposal,” the caucus said in a statement.

“The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original AHCA,” the statement continues. “While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs.”

The new amendment, drafted by moderate Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows (R-NC) would allow states to apply for waivers from certain Obamacare mandates.

During a press conference earlier on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said that the amendment “helps us get to consensus.” However, it’s not clear that the amendment would earn enough support from moderate members of the Republican caucus to ensure the legislation’s passage.

Some moderates, including Rep. Charlie Dent (R0PA), still won’t back the AHCA with this amendment, and other moderates had yet to finalize their positions on the amendment early Wednesday.

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Notable Replies

  1. Fine. If it lowers costs, it’s a win. If costs go up and lots of people die, we can rightly blame it on the Republicans.

    Just kidding. We all know that Obama’s taking the blame for all of this to his grave, regardless of what happens.

  2. “The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability ***to take the ‘care’ out of Obamacare.***"

    FIFY

  3. Remember when Americans used to call John Birchers “nutcases”?

    Instead of “The Freedom Caucus”?

    Those were the days…

  4. Time to flood the switchboards again.

  5. During a press conference earlier on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said that the amendment “helps us get to consensus.” However, it’s not clear that the amendment would earn enough support from moderate members of the Republican caucus to ensure the legislation’s passage.

    Not to mention the Senate, where a good deal of the House’s version would basically be DOA.

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