Little-known lawmaker lands in health spotlight
Republican from Missouri held out for changes in bill at crucial time
Rep. Billy Long is not a part of the House Republican leadership, nor is he a committee chairman. He’s not one of the hard-charging, conservative Freedom Caucus members, nor is he part of the GOP’s pivotal moderate faction.
How did the former auctioneer from southwest Missouri end up at the center of the legislative battle over replacing Obamacare and help get the president’s top priority through the House?
It all started with a tweet, as so many things in Washington do these days.
“BREAKING: Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) tells me he’s a NO on new GOP health bill! Brings to 22 the number of NO votes,” tweeted Scott Wong, a Capitol Hill reporter with The Hill newspaper.
That proclamation ricocheted around Washington — and landed with a thud at the White House. Republicans suffered an embarrassing setback in March when they failed to secure enough votes from their own ranks for passage of their first proposal to unravel the Affordable Care Act. The Long tweet came as GOP leaders tried to round up votes for a new bill — one that included a delicate set of revisions designed to appease both the hard-line conservatives and wavering moderates.
Long of Springfield had supported every previous version of the GOP’s push to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The news that he was not going to go along with the new plan was a shocker. It signaled that GOP leaders were in a deeper hole on “yes” votes than they realized.
At issue for Long: Obamacare’s provision banning insurance companies from discriminating against patients with pre-existing conditions by denying them coverage or charging them exorbitant premiums. Under the GOP’s new bill, states could seek a waiver from that requirement, thus letting insurance companies charge higher premiums to some consumers with health conditions — anything from asthma to cancer to pregnancy.
The exemption would apply only to those buying coverage in the individual market, but critics said it would gut the protections for sick patients, one of the most popular provisions in the 2010 law. Long campaigned on a promise to repeal the ACA, but, like other Republicans, he said he wanted to keep that protection in place.
Long privately told his staff he would oppose the new measure, but he had not publicly announced his position. That changed May 1, when Wong caught the congressman in the hallway and asked him how he planned to vote.
Within a few hours, Long ’s cellphone buzzed; it was the president. “‘Billy, really need you. We need you, man,’ ” Long recounted of his conversation with Trump. “I said, ‘You don’t have me.’ ”
More than 1,000 miles away, the phone was ringing in Long ’s Springfield office. “Oh my word,” Royce Reding thought as media requests rolled in. “We’re not used to that type of attention pouring in.” Reding is Long ’s district director, and he’s been with the congressman since his first campaign for Congress in 2010. In the seven years since, Long had been on national TV only a few times, including an appearance after a Joplin tornado ravaged parts of the 7th Cong- ressional District in 2011.
“For Billy, this was the biggest legislative battle he has fought in his career,” Reding said.
Along with the media spotlight came the fury of angry conservatives, who blasted Long for supporting a repeal of the ACA when Obama was in office and he knew the president would veto it.
“Now, when it counts, and President Trump is ready to sign the bill, Billy has flip-flopped to defend Obamacare,” David McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth, an influential conservative group, said Tuesday.
Long has not publicly explained why he supported the previous bills to kill the ACA — including the law’s pre-existing conditions protections — but could not bring himself to support this one. Reding said Long grew concerned after analyzing the bill that it would leave some sick people in the lurch.
“That was enough for Billy to stand back, put his heels in the ground, and say, ‘I’m a no on this,’ ” Reding said.
Long ’s daughter, 28, was treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015. Reding said that experience “personalized” the debate for him, but it was not a driving factor in his objection to the GOP bill.
“It made it real,” Reding said. “He could understand people’s plights ( because) he’s lived it. But long before his daughter’s illness, he had promised to protect preexisting conditions.”
As Long dug in, another influential GOP lawmaker, Rep. Fred Upton from Michigan, came out against the bill May 2 — express- ing the same concerns about preexisting conditions. As pressure from the White House ratcheted up, Upton and Long started quietly discussing a legislative fix: adding $8 billion over five years to the underlying bill, aimed at helping patients who would be hit with higher premiums and outof-pocket costs.
Trump called Upton and Long, pushing them in separate conversations to change their minds. Both said no, unless the White House agreed to their new language.
“He got a little angry, but I have a thick skin,” Upton recounted. “It was, you know, give and take.”
The White House declined to talk about the president’s conversations with the congressmen.
Trump’s call to Long was even testier, according to Reding.
“Let us talk to you about this amendment I have, and I think we can work something out,” Long said to the president. “The president said, ‘No, I’m not doing that. We’re not changing it,’ ” Reding said, adding that the call ended abruptly.
If the White House didn’t want another tweak to the bill, it’s no wonder. It was already a carefully negotiated compromise. Any new provision — especially one with an $8 billion price tag — could drive away conservatives in the Freedom Caucus and torpedo the bill again.
Trump’s hard line softened after Republican leaders told the White House they would not have enough votes to pass the bill without Upton and Long on board. By that night, the two congressmen had an appointment at the White House for the next morning.
On May 3, the small House GOP contingent met with Trump and other top White House officials for about an hour. When Long, Upton and others emerged from the West Wing, they were met by a phalanx of reporters with microphones out.
“With this addition that we brought to the president and sold him on,” Long said, he and Upton had moved to the “yes” column.
“The guy that sealed the deal?” Upton said. “Billy Long.”
As the bill headed for House passage, Long seemed ready to retreat from the limelight. He noted that he hasn’t joined any ideological caucus in the House, saying, “I don’t like that groupthink thing.”
“I’m a member of the Show-Me caucus, just one guy,” Long said.
“This was the biggest legislative battle he has fought in his career.” Royce Reding, district director for Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo.