Freedom Caucus Chair: We Don’t Want ‘This Binary Choice’ About Health Bill

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 29: Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questions Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in Rayburn Bui... UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 29: Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questions Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in Rayburn Building on whether PPFA should be federally funded, September 29, 2015. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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The chair of the House Freedom Caucus said Wednesday that voting on the American Health Care Act, the proposed replacement for Obamacare, shouldn’t be a “binary choice,” and that congressional leadership wasn’t allowing for a full legislative process.

“We just got this bill 72 hours ago. The American people first saw this bill 72 hours ago. And to say that we can’t amend it, change it and make it right? That’s just not how the legislative process works,” Jim Jordan (R-OH) told CNN.

“I bet there are a lot of members, in fact I know there are a lot of members, who don’t want this binary choice. They want to weigh in and be part of the legislative process,” he added later.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said earlier this week that the proposal would follow “regular order,” and that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, in both the House and Senate, would be allowed to offer amendments to it in committees and on the floor.

“We’re not jamming this down anybody’s throat,” he told reporters.

The bill sped through its two originating committees – Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce – on Thursday and has now moved onto the House Budget Committee, prompting some conservatives to urge leadership to slow down.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Chair of the House Rules Committee, said Wednesday of Spicer’s promise: “I will just point blank say that I would encourage Mr. Spicer if he thinks he’s going to start talking about my business to give me a darn call.”

After meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday night about the legislation, Jordan told CNN: “Right now, there’s big concerns, and I don’t think there’s the votes for this legislation.”

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Notable Replies

  1. Jim Jordan is mentally incapacitated by the concept of “thinking.”

    He will never be able to do it.

  2. Avatar for fess fess says:

    "Right now, there’s big concerns, and I don’t think there’s the votes for this legislation.”

    Been hearing from your constituents have you?

  3. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    It doesn’t kill enough people fast enough.

  4. Can’t promise this is 100% the truth, but it’s sure starting to feel like it…

    We are witnessing the destruction of the Republican party. This was supposed to be their hour of triumph, and they’re blowing it. Their leaders are desperate, corrupt buffoons drawing more criticism by the hour. Their president is the most corrupt in American history. They’re trying to pass laws that will bludgeon the lower and middle classes. And on top of that, the country’s only getting more diverse.

    2018 will not be pretty for the GOP. They’re a party on its last legs.

  5. Of course you can’t change it, Congressman. The bill has been carefully crafted to hurt people as quickly and efficiently as possible while also being able to be passed under reconciliation.

    It’s a fine line. Changes to the bill might alter that precious dynamic.

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