White House: Republicans to be rewarded for health care vote
Obama urges lawmakers to protect vulnerable Americans
WASHINGTON: The Republican Party will be rewarded for doing “what’s right” by voting to overhaul a “failing and collapsing” health care system, a top aide to US President Donald Trump asserted as Democrats and at least one outside group began laying the groundwork to challenge the Republicans for control of the House in the 2018 midterm election.
The health advocacy group Save My Care on Monday announced the launch of a six-figure TV and digital advertising campaign beginning this week, targeting 24 Republican House members who voted last week to repeal the health care law enacted under former President Barack Obama.
But Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff, scoffed at the notion that Republicans will lose control of the House in 2018.
He said the bill that narrowly cleared the House last week and which faces significant revision by the Senate will be an improvement over the current system of limited choice and rising costs.
“There are some times in life you have to do what’s right, not what’s politically expedient,” Priebus said.
“We’re going to do something better and we’re going to do our job as legislators to get this thing done. I think that the Republican Party will be rewarded.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he was not concerned about political fallout because of the vote.
“We’re keeping our word,” Ryan said.
“People expect their elected leaders, if they run and campaign on doing something, they expect them to do that. And that’s what we’re doing.” Ryan argued that “we would spell disaster for ourselves, politically ... if we go back on our word.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, gleeful at the prospect of potentially reclaiming the House gavel in 2018, told Republicans they will “glow in the dark” over the vote.
The party that controls the White House traditionally loses seats in Congress in the election that follows a presidential inauguration. Unknown at this point, 18 months before the election, is how the health care vote could complicate that.
Among the lawmakers being targeted by Save My Care’s campaign is Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, the moderate Republican who helped revive the bill. MacArthur wrote an amendment that satisfied some lawmakers’ concerns about how the bill would treat people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Another target is Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, the group of conservative Republicans whose objections to an earlier version of the bill helped scuttle a House vote scheduled for late March.
Save My Care says it will emphasize the lawmakers’ support for a bill that congressional auditors have said will cause 24 million people to lose coverage over 10 years. The campaign is slated to run in congressional districts in 15 states.
A political group with ties to the House Republican leadership, American Action Network, said Sunday it was buying $500,000 in television time to promote the health care bill. The ad will focus on key elements of the American Health Care Act and thank Ryan and fellow Republicans for “keep- ing their promise” on the health care issue, the group said.
As the focus of the health care debate shifted to the Senate, Trump on Sunday urged Senate Republicans to “not let the American people down.”
Some senators have already voiced displeasure with the bill that cleared the House last week by a vote of 217-213, with all the “yes” voted supplied by Republicans, citing concerns over potential higher costs for older people and those with pre-existing conditions along with cuts to Medicaid. Democrats oppose the effort to dismantle Obama’s health care law.
Obama defended his signature achievement in Boston on Sunday night while accepting the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
He urged lawmakers to follow their conscience and protect vulnerable Americans.
Obama said: “Courage means not simply doing what is politically expedient, but doing what they believe deep in their hearts is right.”
He said: “It is my fervent hope... that today’s members of Congress, regardless of party, are willing to look at the facts and speak the truth even when it contradicts party positions.”
Obama added: “I hope that current members of Congress recall that it actually does not take a lot of courage to aid those who are already powerful, already comfortable, already influential. But it does require some courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm.”