Influential Republican balks

In a blow, Upton says he won’t back health care bill

WASHINGTON—A respected moderate Republican lawmaker dealt a significant blow Tuesday to the languishing GOP health care bill by coming out against it. The White House and House leaders sought holdouts’ support in hopes of pushing the measure through the chamber this week, but remained short of votes.

The latest opponent was Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who until this year chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is considered a leader on health issues. He said the measure would undermine insurance protections current law gives people with pre-existing illnesses, which legislation supporters disputed.

The issue even seeped into popular culture after late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel delivered an emotional 13-minute monologue Monday describing the recent birth of his son, who had heart disease that required immediate surgery that proved successful. Kimmel said before Obama’s law took effect, many such infants could die because they’d be uninsured due to their pre-existing conditions.

“If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make,” Kimmel said in comments viewed online by over 3 million people. “We need to make sure that the people who are supposed to represent us, people who are meeting about this right now in Washington, understand that very clearly.”

The bill is a top priority for President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., since it embodies a long-standing GOP pledge to annul much of former President Barack Obama’s health care law. They’d like to resurrect a revised version of the measure that collapsed in March and send it to the Senate before a weeklong House recess starting this weekend, when it might further lose momentum.

Upton’s defection is important because at a moment when every vote counts, opposition by the 16-term House veteran could make it easier for other unhappy moderates to vote no. Despite White House prodding, House leaders have said a vote will occur only once they can succeed.

Upton told The Associated Press that the bill’s treatment of people with pre-existing illnesses “does not fit” with comments Trump made in an interview last weekend. The president said “Pre-existing conditions are in the bill.”

“Can there be a fix? Maybe, but it is not part of the equation before us,” Upton said.

Upton pointedly noted that the bill’s language on pre-existing conditions was backed by the House Freedom Caucus, whose deeply conservative members mostly support the legislation.

In a radio interview earlier on “WHTC Morning News” in Holland, Michigan, Upton made similar remarks and said “a good number of us have raised real red flag concerns” with leaders.

Trump referenced the health care measure during a White House ceremony honoring the Air Force’s football team, asking lawmakers how the bill was faring.

“I think it’s time now, right?” he said. “They know it’s time.”

A senior Trump adviser said the White House counts them five votes short on the bill, which he said could drop to zero or grow to 15. The official signaled that the White House would blame GOP leaders for falling short, saying “Let’s see if the hill can deliver.”

Ryan said leaders are “making very good progress,” but other Republicans voiced pessimism.

Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a Trump ally who supports the legislation, said GOP lawmakers were worrying that Democrats could use the pre-existing condition issue for damaging if inaccurate attack ads in next year’s congressional elections.

“In the last 24 hours, things have moved in the negative direction,” Collins said of the bill’s support.