Conservative Republicans on Wednesday staked out their position on a proposed replacement to the 2010 health care law. But their views are likely to muddle the path toward GOP consensus. The House Freedom Caucus endorsed legislation authored by one of its members, Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. “Conservatives have come together to say that this is the replacement plan that we not only want to promote but debate and hopefully fine-tune,” said North Carolina Rep....
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The party remains divided on many central questions: How long should repeal take? Should the Medicaid expansion be abolished? And should some of the taxes in ObamaCare be kept to help pay for a new coverage option? As President Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seek to build consensus on the path forward, here are 10 of the biggest players to watch. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) Alexander is helping to lead the Senate’s ObamaCare efforts as c...
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CONTACT: Alyssa Farah Alyssa.Farah@mail.house.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 14, 2017 The House Freedom Caucus called for an expeditious vote in the House on the FY16 budget reconciliation language that passed both the House and the Senate, and was sent to President Obama's desk last year. The Freedom Caucus released the following statement: “American families are hurting today under the crippling costs of the Affordable Care Act. We made a commitment to the American people to repeal this l...
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The all-Republican House Freedom Caucus made its name by not being afraid to break with the leadership of the Republican Party. But these days, the gaggle of far-right lawmakers is hoping to work more as party power brokers, looking to shape legislation for the GOP that can get all the way to the president’s desk. “There’s clout, you know, especially in a unified government where you’re not going to be looking at necessarily making a piece of legislation more moderate and picking up Democrats,” ...
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Congress must repeal Obamacare “within the next two or three months” to avoid the wrath of voters who expected Republicans to ease the anxiety around soaring rates and dwindling insurance options back home, conservative lawmakers said Wednesday. Replacing the Affordable Care Act’s heavy mandates with free-market reforms that protect the poor and vulnerable is crucial, they said, but lawmakers should clear the decks for that effort by gutting the 2010 law. “I think we should repeal it first, befo...
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Key conservatives in both the House and Senate laid out their requests — and demands — for Obamacare repeal in a roundtable with reporters on Wednesday morning. Some go directly against what more moderate members of the GOP have asked for, while others are surprisingly in lockstep with what leadership wants to do. What it means: These conservatives are opposed to the strategies that might bring moderates to the table, like adding pieces of replacement and watering down what gets repealed. That m...
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A trio of conservatives said they want to see Congress move faster with their efforts to repeal Obamacare and are worried that adding the law’s replacement to the repeal bill could drag down their dismantling of the health care law. During a breakfast with reporters held Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, strongly spoke out against talks to include parts of Obamacare’s replacement in a bill unwinding the health care law. “That’s a horrible idea,” Lee said of adding repl...
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Conservative Republicans, worried about growing voices within the party advising or accepting a slower pace for repealing the Affordable Care Act, are redoubling their push to speed the GOP’s long-desired goal. President Donald Trump on Sunday became the latest top Republican to sound cautious notes about the party’s ability to rapidly repeal large swaths of the 2010 health law and enact its own vision. He told Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly that “maybe it’ll take until sometime into next year,” sayin...
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Tom Price spent years railing against Obamacare. Now he’ll finally have sweeping power to do something about it. The Georgia Republican congressman is on the verge of becoming the Trump administration’s top health care official, armed with broad authority to begin unwinding Obamacare by using as much executive power as possible, even as Congress struggles to find consensus on a plan to repeal and replace the health care law. First, he could ax Obamacare's mandate ensuring coverage for contracept...
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March for Life Last week, I promised more photos from the March for Life—you can see more below! This is the largest annual peaceful protest in D.C., where hundreds of thousands come from all over the country to stand for life and speak out for the millions of babies who have been aborted since Roe v. Wade. It was such a privilege to participate again this year and stand for the unborn. Thanks so much to everyone who braved the cold weather and came out to show support! Let us always remember t...
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