>@RepMarkMeadows: 'They’re already whipping with a whip that’s about 10 feet long and five feet wide.' https://t.co/lVlPTRrJr4
— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) March 21, 2017
At the Washington Post, “The GOP’s new Obamacare repeal bill is a big defeat for conservatives”:
Republicans announced a set of changes to their proposed health-care overhaul Monday night, and while the revisions make symbolic nods to hard-line GOP conservatives, the most significant changes are social spending boosts aimed at wooing the party’s most moderate members.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan conceded last week that the original bill needed changes to rally enough Republicans to move it through the House. But as members of Ryan’s party were pulling him in opposite directions, he had a choice: He could work to draw in more centrist GOP lawmakers concerned about the projections that the initial proposal would force millions of Americans to go uninsured, or he could try to win over more of the party’s conservative members who said the bill still spent too much — especially on social programs aimed at helping Americans buy health insurance…
…[T]he real concessions went to moderate lawmakers. Between Medicaid and a system of tax breaks for working- and middle-class households purchasing private insurance, the bill includes some $150 billion in new federal spending to help make sure that Americans can buy insurance. It is a tangible expansion of federal power in the health-care sector, compared with the first draft, that indicates an appetite among moderate Republicans for a more robust social safety net.…
The House Freedom Caucus, a crucial conservative bloc, will allow its members to vote as they please on the legislation.
Still, the group’s leader — Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) ripped the proposed changes Monday night. “After investing hours and hours and hours of trying to find common ground between our moderate members and conservative members, and believing, because of the White House’s engagement in the process, that we could find common ground; I’ve now reached a conclusion that our leadership is going to put forth a bill that does not address any of the concerns in a meaningful way and will dare us to vote against it,” he told Axios…
(Details of the proposed changes at the link.)
Think this from @ezraklein sums up the AHCA pretty well https://t.co/nbqcDxh8ZJ pic.twitter.com/QdkmXgCHaA
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) March 21, 2017
… and mostly self-created chaos swirling, it is could do irreparable damage to Trump agenda moving forward.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 21, 2017
Also notable: After GOP spent years decrying Dems rushing a partisan bill, the AHCA is moving 7x faster and has only Republican support.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 21, 2017
Trump margin in PA in 2016: 44,000. Pennsylvanians who’d lose Medicaid if ACA repealed: 670,000.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 21, 2017
NBC News count: 26 GOP House members opposed/strong lean “no” on health bill.
GOP can only afford to lose 21. If this holds, it won't pass. pic.twitter.com/bqFtm9V6sV
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 21, 2017
The reason President Trump is at the Capitol: Republicans are hearing from you about this disastrous health care bill. Keep speaking up.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) March 21, 2017
Open Thread: That’s Not A Whip, It’s A DoormatPost + Comments (270)