Walker: GOP soft on health care law
Lagging in polls, he unveils plan to repeal, replace Obamacare
WASHINGTON Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker assailed Republicans in Congress on Tuesday for failing to repeal Obamacare, and he unveiled his own plan to repeal and replace the law.
The GOP presidential candidate, who has lagged in recent polls, decried GOP leaders who control both chambers of Congress but haven’t sent a bill to President Obama that would get rid of the health care law.
“Americans want more than just campaign promises, they want results,” he said.
Walker said that if he is elected, he will send a proposal to Congress on the first day of his presidency to replace the law with legislation that would provide tax credits to Americans of all income levels who don’t have employer-sponsored insurance. Federal subsidies under Obamacare are tied to income. Walker’s plan would tie credits to age.
His plan would eliminate the requirement that all Americans have health insurance. It would allow people to buy insurance across state lines. “It’s all about freedom,” Walker said during a speech in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Walker has seen his monthslong lead in Iowa evaporate this month as Donald Trump has surged in the polls. A CNN/ORC poll taken after the first GOP presidential debate Aug. 6 showed Walker in third place behind Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
In his speech Tuesday, Walker sought to differentiate himself from Trump and the other Republican hopefuls by touting his middle-class, Midwestern roots and successful battles to overhaul collective bargaining and make other changes in Wisconsin.
“I may not be the flashiest of the folks,” he said. “I may not have the pizazz of people on the East or the West Coast, but I hope you see, not just here in Minnesota but across America: I think like you think, my family lives like your family does, we want the same things that you do, and we’re not going to back down.”
Democrats blasted Walker’s health care plan. “If this vague grab-bag of conservative wish-list items is the best health plan the GOP can come up with for the largest economy on Earth, it’s the clearest signal yet that Republicans like Scott Walker are out of ideas and out of touch,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Eric Walker said.
“I think like you think, my family lives like your family does, we want the same things that you do, and we’re not going to back down.”
Scott Walker