House GOP Leaders: We’re Not Abandoning Obamacare Repeal

Although President Donald Trump appears ready to wash his hands of health care for the near future, the Republican leaders of the House of Representatives insisted Tuesday they are not giving up on repealing Obamacare this year.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his deputies spoke to reporters after a closed-door meeting with rank-and-file members to discuss last week’s humiliating failure to reach consensus on a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. That prompted Trump to declare he was moving on to other issues, and even Ryan said Friday that Obamacare would remain for now.

“If Obamacare just stays as is, that’s not acceptable for the American people. That’s not what we said we would do.”

But on Tuesday, Ryan said the party remains committed to passing a new health law, although he suggested the House would not take another immediate stab at the issue.

“I won’t tell you the timeline because we want to get it right,” he said. “We have an aggressive agenda, and we’ve been moving quickly on this aggressive agenda, but we want to get it right …  If Obamacare just stays as is, that’s not acceptable for the American people. That’s not what we said we would do.”

Ryan said Tuesday’s Republicans-only meeting produced great discussion from all ideological segments of the party. He said some who were in the “no” camp spoke of a willingness to compromise.

“I don’t want us to become a factionalized majority,” he said. “I want us to become a united majority.”

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Republicans promised to repeal Obamacare.

“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he said. “Friday, the timeline wasn’t there. The votes were not there yet. That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to get there. ”

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Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 3 man in the leadership, said he was encouraged after hearing from members.

“After this morning, the resolve of our conference to repeal Obamacare and replace it has never been stronger,” he said. “To my Democrat colleagues who celebrating Friday’s action, I think their celebration is premature. Because I think that we’re closer today to repealing Obamacare than we ever have been before.”