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Lucylastic -> Healthcare vote? maybe not... (3/24/2017 10:23:56 AM)
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A Top Republican Just Dealt Trumpcare A Potentially Mortal Blow
The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee will vote “no” on a top GOP priority.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), a top House Republican, said Friday morning that he would vote against the GOP’s bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Frelinghuysen’s opposition is significant not only because Republican leadership can only afford to lose 21 or 22 votes, but also because he is the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Committee chairpersons typically vote in line with the House leadership ― and indeed set the party line and help pull recalcitrant members on board.
“Seven years after enactment of Obamacare, I wanted to support legislation that made positive changes to rescue healthcare in America,” Frelinghuysen said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the legislation before the House today is currently unacceptable as it would place significant new costs and barriers to care on my constituents in New Jersey,” he continued. “In addition to the loss of Medicaid coverage for so many people in my Medicaid-dependent state, the denial of essential health benefits in the individual market raise serious coverage and cost issues.”
Even after the bill cleared a key procedural hurdle, several Republican lawmakers doubted the votes were there to pass it.
Conservative Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) bemoaned the way leadership handled the bill, saying they jammed it through the chamber.
“The people I know that are noes, they’re pretty strong in their feelings,” Jones told reporters Friday, just hours before the vote. “I think there’s a good chance it could go down. If death is a finality, I’m a solid no.”
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who supports the bill despite having reservations about it, said it’s a “big hit” if the bill goes down.
“If it doesn’t pass, this issue is dead,” Diaz-Balart said Friday. “This is the one shot ― good, bad, or indifferent ― this is the one shot to deal with health care.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rodney-frelinghuysen-gop-obamacare_us_58d53713e4b03787d357a0a0?
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