Two conservative House members issued a shot across the bow against any attempts to shrink the scope of Republicans’ repeal of the Affordable Care Act, in a statement that “strongly” encouraged that the coming legislation to dismantle the law go at least as far as a 2015 Obamacare repeal bill.
That 2015 bill passed Congress but was vetoed by President Obama in 2016.
“There’s no reason we should put anything less on President Trump’s desk than we put on President Obama’s now that we know it will be signed into law,” the statement, issued by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) Thursday, said. “We strongly encourage that this bill be brought to the floor for consideration as soon as possible so we can begin undoing this law that is hurting American families.”
Republicans’ initial desire to repeal Obamacare almost immediately after President Trump took office has been bogged down by intra-GOP fights over what the repeal legislation would look. There have been disagreements over the timeframe that a repeal would take place, whether the taxes should be dismantled right away and whether there should be some ACA replacement elements ready when repeal is passed. Some Republicans, especially on the Senate side, have floated an approach that would “repair” Obamacare before fully repealing it.
The 2015 legislation used a process known as reconciliation that avoids Senate filibuster but is confined to measures related to the budget. It repealed the taxes – including the individual mandate – right away, while delaying for two years repeal of the laws’ subsidies and Medicaid expansion.
Meadows and Jordan have some sway among conservative hardliners in the House GOP, as current and former chairs of the House Freedom Caucus.
Read the full statement below:
Health care will be better and more affordable once Obamacare is repealed. We committed to the American people to repeal every tax, every mandate, the regulations, and to defund Planned Parenthood. That’s what the American people expect us to do – and they expect us to do it quickly. Therefore we strongly encourage Republican leadership on Capitol Hill to take up the Affordable Care Act repeal bill that already passed the House, the Senate, and went to President Obama’s desk in early 2016. There’s no reason we should put anything less on President Trump’s desk than we put on President Obama’s now that we know it will be signed into law. We strongly encourage that this bill be brought to the floor for consideration as soon as possible so we can begin undoing this law that is hurting American families.
