Republicans are vehemently pushing back on claims that they are softening their language about Obamacare’s future, arguing they still want to “repeal” the law and not “repair” it.
The amped-up rhetoric over the past few days from Republican leaders comes amid accusations from a conservative group that the GOP is backtracking on its promise to repeal the healthcare law. It also comes in response to several prominent Republicans who have said they favor repairing the law instead of just repealing it.
Last week a secret recording of a closed-door session at the Republican retreat in Philadelphia showed several GOP lawmakers concerned with the consequences of the GOP’s efforts to repeal the law without an immediate replacement.
But Republican leaders recently said they are still planning to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
“We are absolutely committed to follow through on President Trump’s directive to repeal and replace Obamacare and to have the Congress do it at the same time,” Vice President Pence said on Fox News Thursday.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, recently aimed to walk back comments to the Washington Post on Thursday that he could stand either repeal or repair and that he was “open to anything.”
On Friday, the committee sent out a press release saying that Republicans remain committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare.
The release pointed to remarks Hatch made before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week. “I believe we need to repeal Obamacare immediately and provide for a stable transition period,” according to his prepared remarks. “We need to advance replacement policies in tandem with the repeal process.”
Hatch then pointed to other statements made by Republican House and Senate leaders, highlighting the words “repeal and replace” throughout the statements.
“This law is collapsing — we have to rescue people from the failure of this law,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan during his weekly press conference Thursday. “And that is why, step by step, we are going to keep our promise to repeal and replace this law.”
The finance committee is one of four House and Senate panels that are drafting legislation by April to repeal the law via reconciliation, a procedural move in the Senate that lets legislation pass via a 51-vote majority as opposed to 60 needed to break a filibuster. The plan is to use reconciliation to gut the law’s taxes and mandates and include some replacement provisions, but leave some of Obamacare intact for a few years until a GOP replacement is crafted and implemented.
But the move has caused concern among some Republicans who worry about the impact on the individual market, which includes Obamacare’s exchanges and is used by people who don’t get insurance via their work. A recording of a closed-door session at the GOP retreat featured some lawmakers worried about the consequences.
“We’d better be sure that we’re prepared to live with the market we’ve created,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., in a report in the Washington Post. “That’s going to be called Trumpcare. Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and we’ll be judged in the election less than two years away.”
The leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, emphasized Friday that repair is not on the table.
“Repair by definition implies there is something worth fixing,” he told Fox News Friday. “Never forget, this thing was packaged and sold to American people on a bunch of lies. This needs to be repealed because that was what we told the voters we are going to do.”
But several Republicans have floated the other “R” word.
Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., said during a subcommittee meeting of the House Energy and Commerce committee Thursday that “we want to repair the [Affordable Care Act] and I have never favored its repeal without replacement.”
Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said during a hearing Thursday that the House remains committed to repeal.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has repeatedly been skeptical of the GOP’s efforts to repeal the law without an immediate replacement.
Alexander, chiairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has said that Congress needs to send in “rescue teams” to improve the individual market.
Other senators have shied away from “repeal and replace.”
“I think the phrase ‘repeal and replace’ was appropriate prior to Obamacare’s implementation,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on CNBC last month. “I have been talking about repairing the damage and then transitioning the system.”
Johnson added that repeal and replace is a “fun little buzzword but it’s simply not accurate.” He said any move to repeal and replace will need help from Democrats to break a filibuster.
The response from Republican leadership to emphasize “repeal” and not “repair” comes after criticism from some conservative groups that the effort is backtracking.
“Congress must stop the delays and backtracking and pass #FullRepeal,” tweeted Jim DeMint, president of the right leaning think tank Heritage Foundation. “Obamacare’s high costs are a disaster.”
