Paul Ryan is a failure! He failed again to secure the necessary votes to repeal Obamacare.
Ryan has a Republican majority in the House and still can’t find the votes necessary to repeal the biggest steaming pile of government control freak tyranny to come down the pike since prohibition.
Why does it have to be a “repeal and replace” bill? Why can’t it be a repeal bill and move those currently covered by Obamacare into Medicare, either temporarily until a new system is devised or permanently? The system is already in place. There would be no cost of implementing a new, separate system. Why is this so difficult?
House Republican leaders on Thursday delayed a vote on their Obamacare repeal bill until next week at the earliest, denying President Donald Trump a major legislative victory during his first 100 days in office, according to Politico.
Speaker Paul Ryan and his top lieutenants decided during a late-night huddle in the Capitol that they still do not have the votes to pass the stalled health-care legislation. At least 15 House Republicans remain solidly opposed to the bill, with another 20 leaning no or still undecided, according to GOP lawmakers and aides.
House Republicans can only lose 22 votes.
“We are not voting on health care tomorrow,” Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters upon emerging from the meeting. “We’re still educating members.”
White House officials, after striking a deal with conservatives, had publicly raised expectations that the vote would occur this week. And they privately pushed Ryan (R-Wis.) to hand Trump something he could tout as a major legislative victory before Saturday, his 100th day in office.
But GOP leaders are still struggling to secure the votes, though some are hopeful they can vote next week. More than 15 lawmakers publicly declared their opposition in recent days, though most of those members also rejected the original draft that Ryan yanked from the floor last month. More foreboding for House leaders, Republicans who backed earlier versions of the proposal, including Reps. Mike Coffman of Colorado and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, said they were now undecided. Some even came out against the bill.
“Protections for those with pre-existing conditions without contingency and affordable access to coverage for every American remain my priorities for advancing health care reform, and this bill does not satisfy those benchmarks for me,” said Rep. Ryan Costello, a centrist Pennsylvania Republican who voted for an earlier version of the bill in committee. “I remain a no vote on this bill in its current form.”
Multiple senior House Republican sources said Ryan and his top lieutenants have made progress and are increasingly confident that they’ll eventually garner enough support to force the bill through the chamber. They’ve locked down the most recalcitrant conservatives in the 238-member House GOP conference. And they say they’re making headway with some moderate Republicans wary of a constituent backlash if they support the health care overhaul.
Case in point: Three senior House Republican sources sounded confident Thursday that they’ve now secured a “yes” vote from House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, who came out against the bill several weeks ago. The influential New Jersey Republican’s office did not return multiple requests for comment.
