Repeals for major parts of Obamacare cleared Congress for the first time on Wednesday, and while Obama is sure to veto the package, one of the most powerful House Republicans says the move shows voters who is on their side and what could actually be done come 2017.
The legislation would wipe away the individual and employer mandates, the co-called “Cadillac Tax” and other provisions.
Congressional Republicans used a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation to move the repeals through the U.S. Senate late last year with just a simple majority. Wednesday’s vote in the House marks the first time Democrats have failed to block the plan on Capitol Hill. Obama will veto the bill and Republicans do not have the votes to override it. Nonetheless, the GOP sees this as a key victory.
“The American people by a real majority are opposed to this law. What they will see is that there are folks standing up here in Washington, fighting as hard as we can for them,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga.
“If there’s some epiphany and the president were to actually sign this repeal, it would be a wonderful thing. But if or when he vetoes it, the American people will know who is standing in the way of real progress. That’s an important distinction,” said Price.
Price says some Democrats actually support individual components contained within the repeals, but even before the vote he did not expect many crossover votes.
“We don’t anticipate any Democrat to support this. They tend to represent their politics instead of the appropriate policy and their constituents when it comes to this kind of issue. But there are a number of bipartisan portions of this bill that could be supported if they were to look at it objectively,” said Price.
Supports of repealing the mandates and other Obamacare components received a hot in the arm in recent days when the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office concluded this bill would slice half a trillion dollars off the deficit over the next ten years.
“That’s real money,” said Price, who says Obamacare is hurting America in multiple ways.
“We know that Obamacare does real harm to the health and wellness of the American people, but it also does real harm to our economy in decreasing economic activity, decreasing economic growth and increasing the deficits,” said Price.
In addition to the Democratic opposition, some conservative activists have argued that this legislative effort may do more than good by removing some of the most odious Obamacare provisions that could hasten its implosion if left in place.
Price isn’t buying it. First, he says many of those same people thought the system would already have imploded. Second, he believes this is a much smarter approach to making meaningful change.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we as responsible representatives of the people stand up and say, ‘This is what our constituents believe is the most appropriate thing to do, that is to repeal this bill and then move forward.’ This is just the next step in the process because, following this, is moving forward with an appropriate, positive, common sense solution to the challenges in our health care arena,” said Price.
He says Republicans are also clear that they do not want to go back to way things were before Obamacare.
“We don’t want to go back to the status quo ante, where we were before, because there were problems then. The problem is Obamacare made things wore, not better,” said Price.
As a result, Price says Republicans are gearing up to craft replacement health care legislation and he believes House Speaker Paul Ryan is pursuing change in the best possible way.
“What he has done is charge all of us with real, positive solutions, legislative solutions to the problems we face. Health care is right at the top of those challenges,” said Price.
He also says this will not be done in any way like the Obamacare bill was crafted.
“This isn’t going to a top-down model, like was done when Obamacare passed when people were dictated to and told what they’ve got to vote for and don’t even worry about reading it. This is going to be a bottom-up process through the committees that deal with health care,” said Price.
That prospect is especially exciting to Price, who has offered his bill for patient-centered solutions ever since the Obamacare debate began.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am about being able to be involved in that process and representing our constituents and moving in a direction that they know needs to occur in our health care arena,” said Price.
