Trump backs House GOP health care overhaul plan
President takes on conservative critics of proposal.
The White House and House Republican leaders on Friday came together behind their plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, including a provision that has drawn criticism from conservatives who are pressing for a more aggressive attack on the law.
After President Trump met at the White House with the House GOP leaders, his chief spokesman said the president fully supports the bill’s timeline for phasing out the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA, which some on the right would like to accelerate. Earlier in the day, the House leaders dismissed the idea of speeding up, as they have done for several days.
“Right now the date that’s in the bill is what the president supports,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters, adding: “It’s not a question of negotiation.”
Spicer’s comments offered the first indication that Trump has taken the side of GOP leaders in their battle with House conservatives, who have been pressing for a more dramatic rollback of so-called “Obamacare.” The development also suggested that Trump had reversed himself after meeting with House leaders on Friday; earlier in the week, the president had told several leaders of outside conservative groups that he was open to negotiating the proposal’s details.
If so, Trump’s new stance gives House Speaker Paul Ryan, the measure’s top booster, new momentum at the end of a difficult week when many GOP lawmakers questioned whether it could pass House. Trump’s support could change that dynamic next week, when the independent Congressional Budget Office is scheduled to release its estimates of the measure’s cost and impact on insurance coverage.
Friday’s news came at the end of a week of conflict between conservative members of Congress and House GOP leaders. Both sides have been speaking to Trump — and both have been hoping that he would help them wear down the other, putting the president at the center of a fierce intraparty clash.
Conservative members have argued that the American Health Care Act, as the proposed ACA replacement is named, should move up by two years plans to phase out one of the current law’s signature features: an expansion of Medicaid as a way to insure more Americans.
The current bill would phase out expansion by 2020, and the conservatives want to move that date to 2018.
In brief comments to reporters at the start of his meeting with lawmakers, Trump congratulated them for advancing their legislation through two committees this week and voiced optimism about the road ahead.
“This is the time we’re going to get it done,” said Trump. “We’re working together. We have some great results. We have tremendous spirit. And I think it’s something that’s just going to happen very shortly.”
After their meeting with Trump, the House GOP leaders said they were willing to listen to different perspectives, but warned against stalling.
“We’ll continue to listen; we’ll continue to make improvements where we can,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “But there’s no question: This is the bill at the end of the day that will come to the president’s desk.”
“We are ready to go, and the worst thing we could do is hit the pause button and continue Obamacare and its broken policies,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
In an earlier press conference, lawmakers taking the lead on shepherding the bill through the House outlined their next steps. Their attempt has come under attack from both ends of the political spectrum.
“Some have said that this legislation doesn’t do enough,” said Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who chairs the House Budget Committee. But she added, “It zeros out the mandate, it repeals the taxes, it repeals the subsidies, and it rolls back some of the regulations.”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued that because of the power the Democrats hold in the Senate, the American Health Care Act is the most aggressive plan Republicans can spearhead right now. He said that it was just one of three phases in reshaping healthcare laws that will also later involve Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price taking actions from the executive branch.