The finger-pointing begins
GOP assesses blame after ACA repeal fails
Let the blame game begin.
Republicans’ failure to overhaul the U.S. healthcare industry has ushered in a round of internal finger-pointing that threatens to deepen the very rifts that doomed the deal — and carve new ones that are likely to complicate the GOP’s ability to function in the Trump era.
Recriminations have been underway for weeks, but they intensified Saturday and cast a new spotlight on the breakdown that led Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to pull the American Health Care Act from the House floor Friday afternoon, after it became clear to him and President Donald Trump that they did not have enough Republican votes to pass it.
Some top Republicans interviewed Saturday singled out Ryan for blame, arguing that he did not sufficiently represent the views of conservative lawmakers or interest groups, who had pressed for a fuller repeal of the law. But some blamed Trump or his aides for not smoothing out the differences, a sentiment that has been stronger privately than in public. Still others found fault with various GOP factions and interest groups, on the right and in the middle, who opposed the bill.
All of it puts pressure on Trump, Ryan, the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and the moderate Republicans who voted against the bill to shore up their relationships and show the nation that they can achieve real successes together.
“Paul Ryan is a really smart policy guy, and we saw that on display,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in an interview Saturday.
“But he lacks the legislative skills to put together a coalition to get the bill though.” The Club for Growth circulated a memo Saturday arguing that “conservatives saved Republicans from voting for their own version of Obamacare.”
Other Republicans argued that groups such as the Club for Growth and the hard-right House Freedom Caucus are at fault for stubbornly opposing the bill and continually demanding a more aggressive attack on the Affordable Care Act.
The bill also had its fair share of critics from the more moderate wing of the party — which has led some to conclude it’s not about Ryan or Trump but the hard-to-reconcile nature of the GOP right now.
“This is not a failure of leadership, it’s a failure of follow-ship,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a frequent defender of both Ryan and Trump.
That still puts the burden on Ryan to figure out how to manage a new dynamic within his conference, with right and left flanks willing to buck him.
The discord started weeks ago but reached a critical point on Thursday night, when the members of the Freedom Caucus sat in the Capitol before Ryan, Chief White House Strategist Stephen Bannon and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who had helped found the group of Republican hard-liners two years prior.
With the bill — and the rest of Trump’s legislative agenda — hanging in the balance, Ryan polled the room: Would they support the bill after changes that would partially, but not entirely, meet their demands?
Rep. Mark Meadows, RN.C., the group’s chairman, spoke up: “I speak for the group. We’re a bloc. And we’re a no.”
The meeting sealed the fate of the AHCA, which would be pulled from House consideration less than 24 hours later.
Trump and some Republicans have sought to blame Democrats for not joining their effort — a claim Democrats say is outrageous. And they have embraced another potential path forward on health-care reform, predicting the current laws will collapse under their own weight and some Democrats will finally join their calls for repeal.
“ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!” Trump tweeted Saturday.
“I don’t think one party is going to be able to fix this by themselves,” said Sen Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at a town hall meeting a few hours later.