- Aug 6, 2012
- 27,963
- 24,773
- 2,405
Voting on healthcare. Seems they don't want this to linger throughout their break.
House Republicans set Thursday vote on health care bill
House Republican leaders have set a Thursday vote on a bill that would repeal and replace ObamaCare, they announced Wednesday.
The vote announcement indicates that the GOP has enough votes to pass the so-called American Health Care Act (AHCA) and send the measure to the Senate for consideration. Republican leaders had spent several days scrambling to round up the votes.
"We're gonna pass it," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News, adding that the bill had the support of the required 216 members to pass out of the chamber.
The bill's passage would mark the culmination of seven years' worth of promises by Republicans to undo Obama's signature legislative achievement and and provide a long-sought win for President Donald Trump, who has been in office more than 100 days without a significant congressional victory save Senate confirmation of a Supreme Court justice.
The latest iteration of the GOP bill would let states escape a current requirement that insurers charge healthy and seriously ill customers the same rates, a measure that has drawn the ire of some moderate Republicans.
However, a pair of moderates flipped their position earlier Wednesday and announced they were supporting the legislation after winning Trump's backing for their amendment to the measure.
The proposal by Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich. and and Billy Long, R-Mo., would provide $8 billion over five years to help some people with pre-existing medical conditions afford coverage. Upton said their plan would put "downward pressure" on premium costs.
Upton's conversion was especially significant because he's a respected, centrist voice on health issues and former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Upton and Long were among four House members who met with Trump at the White House. Also attending the White House meeting were the current Energy and Commerce chairman, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, who heads a health subcommittee.
"Today we're here announcing that with this addition that we brought to the president, and sold him on in over an hour meeting in here with him, that we're both yesses on the bill," Long told reporters at the White House.
"'We need you, we need you, we need you,"' Long described as the message from Trump.
Democrats remained solidly opposed to the legislation. The American Medical Association, AARP and other consumer and medical groups are also opposed. The AMA issued a statement saying Upton's changes "tinker at the edges without remedying the fundamental failing of the bill - that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result."
Late Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., slammed Republicans' decision to proceed with a vote before the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had scored the bill for expected drops in the number of insured Americans.
House Republicans set Thursday vote on health care bill
House Republican leaders have set a Thursday vote on a bill that would repeal and replace ObamaCare, they announced Wednesday.
The vote announcement indicates that the GOP has enough votes to pass the so-called American Health Care Act (AHCA) and send the measure to the Senate for consideration. Republican leaders had spent several days scrambling to round up the votes.
"We're gonna pass it," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News, adding that the bill had the support of the required 216 members to pass out of the chamber.
The bill's passage would mark the culmination of seven years' worth of promises by Republicans to undo Obama's signature legislative achievement and and provide a long-sought win for President Donald Trump, who has been in office more than 100 days without a significant congressional victory save Senate confirmation of a Supreme Court justice.
The latest iteration of the GOP bill would let states escape a current requirement that insurers charge healthy and seriously ill customers the same rates, a measure that has drawn the ire of some moderate Republicans.
However, a pair of moderates flipped their position earlier Wednesday and announced they were supporting the legislation after winning Trump's backing for their amendment to the measure.
The proposal by Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich. and and Billy Long, R-Mo., would provide $8 billion over five years to help some people with pre-existing medical conditions afford coverage. Upton said their plan would put "downward pressure" on premium costs.
Upton's conversion was especially significant because he's a respected, centrist voice on health issues and former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Upton and Long were among four House members who met with Trump at the White House. Also attending the White House meeting were the current Energy and Commerce chairman, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, who heads a health subcommittee.
"Today we're here announcing that with this addition that we brought to the president, and sold him on in over an hour meeting in here with him, that we're both yesses on the bill," Long told reporters at the White House.
"'We need you, we need you, we need you,"' Long described as the message from Trump.
Democrats remained solidly opposed to the legislation. The American Medical Association, AARP and other consumer and medical groups are also opposed. The AMA issued a statement saying Upton's changes "tinker at the edges without remedying the fundamental failing of the bill - that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result."
Late Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., slammed Republicans' decision to proceed with a vote before the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had scored the bill for expected drops in the number of insured Americans.
