Senate Republican leaders are still scrambling to craft a health care bill capable of attracting 50 GOP votes, and while success appears elusive right now, a prominent House conservative still believes a good bill can get passed thanks to the pressure from voters and the resolve of President Trump.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the revised Senate GOP will be revealed on Thursday. The first bill was shelved after several conservatives said it didn’t do enough to repeal Obamacare, while half a dozen or more moderates worried that it didn’t provide enough Medicaid spending or other federal assistance.
Democrats are increasingly brazen about their pursuit of single payer, a euphemism for government-run health care. They also accuse Republicans of seeking to repeal various Obamacare taxes as a means of benefiting the rich while millions of poor people scramble for coverage which would no longer be mandatory.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, says that’s complete fiction.
“It’s the rank-and-file, middle class and people that are just struggling to get by, that have been hurt more over the last eight years than in the last hundred years. They’re the ones whose health care is hurting. It’s not the rich guys. We’re not going to help them. They’re all set,” said Gohmert.
“We’ve got to help that just don’t have much, that are often referred to as poor and the middle class, that are working and doing everything to provide for health care for their families,” said Gohmert, who says those families are very stressed over skyrocketing premiums they can’t afford and don’t even provide much in benefits because their deductibles are also stratospheric.
However, Gohmert is fully aware of the problems the GOP is having in cobbling together 50 votes for anything in the Senate. While he says most Republicans have good intentions, others are gumming up the works with demands for big spending.
“There are others, including some Republicans, who say, ‘If we’re going to give people their freedom back, then you’re going to have to give us this many billions of dollars. Those people, if they want their freedom, when it comes to health care, they’re going to have to pony up tens of billions of more dollars before we let them have their freedom back,” said Gohmert.
“Really? Republicans are going to make people buy their own freedom? That’s just untenable,” said Gohmert.
Despite the rock road on Capitol Hill, Gohmert believes something effective can make it out of Congress, and he says the resolve of President Trump is the main reason for his optimism.
“One of the things that gives me that hope is having a president that says he’s not going to take no for an answer,” said Gohmert.
While Democrats expound on the horrors that would accompany a GOP health bill, Gohmert says there’s no theorizing about the damage done by Obamacare. He says he hears about it all the time from constituents.
“Business owner after business owner in my district and from around the country have complained directly saying, ‘Look, this is killing us. We want to hire more people, but we can’t because of Obamacare and that 50-employee limit you’ve got and the part time hours that were changed,” said Gohmert.
“People come up to me in tears saying, ‘Look, I’ve had to go to two part-time jobs now and I lost the benefits I had, all because of this stupid Obamacare,'” said Gohmert.
He also says seniors are feeling the brunt of President Obama’s slashing of more than $700 billion in Medicare spending.
“(Before Obamacare, if) they needed a procedure, they could get it done immediately. Now, they’re given months to wait on a waiting list. This is where rationed health care goes and it’s what happens when the government is put in charge of people’s health care,” said Gohmert.
Gohmert says he hears from many supporters who are resigned to single payer as a result of Republicans being unable to get a bill passed. The congressman says he will never concede that.
“I’m not giving up. There’s too many people in this Congress who want to do what we said. We’ve just got to push the leaders of the Senate, and maybe our own leader some, to get it done effectively,” said Gohmert.
