House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) argued Thursday that moderate Republicans wavering on supporting the latest iteration of the GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill would be more likely to lose their seats if they voted against the legislation.
“I think people’s seats are at risk if we don’t do what we said we would do. We all campaigned on repealing and replacing this law that is collapsing,” Ryan said at a Thursday press conference, when asked about moderates nervous they would lose re-elections if they voted for the unpopular bill.
“We promised that we would do this,” Ryan said. “If you violate your promise, if you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics, that’s the greater risk, I think, to a person’s seat.”
Ryan’s comments represent a ramping up of a pressure campaign on moderates to fall in line with the bill, the American Health Care Act, now that a recently agreed upon amendment has gotten the backing of the conservative faction that was resisting the legislation. The legislation would massively cut Medicaid and make the tax credit scheme for individual insurance plans less generous for older people. The new provisions would also allow states to apply for waivers to opt out of certain Affordable Care Act insurer mandates in a way that would essentially gut pre-existing conditions protections.
Ryan argued Thursday that the bill’s funding for high-risk pools and various types of re-insurance programs, as well as the stipulations it places on states applying for waivers, offer more protections for those with pre-existing conditions than current law.
Nonetheless, the moderates who were opposed to the original bill, and even some who intended to vote for it before it was pulled from the floor last month, have been skeptical about the latest changes. There have reportedly been frustrations among members of the moderate Tuesday Group that the group’s co-chair Tom MacArthur negotiated the latest changes with hardline conservatives .
Ryan, on Thursday, denied these frustrations existed and pointed to MacArthur as a reason moderates should vote for the bill.
“Tom MacArthur is the leading moderate in Congress. It’s his amendment,” Ryan said.
