Just a few weeks ago, House Speaker Paul Ryan suffered a humiliating defeat as he failed to get an Obamacare replacement bill through the House of Representatives.
Speaker Ryan’s Obamacare bill managed to anger everyone, both conservatives and moderates, and to avoid a huge embarrassment, he pulled the bill before a vote even took place. His inability to navigate a health care replacement bill through his chamber helps explain why he has record high unfavorable ratings, beating out former Speakers Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner.
While Paul Ryan may have failed, President Trump and the White House are continuing to work to fulfill their campaign promise of repealing and replacing Obamacare, and a new report suggests that a fix is on its way.
According to Brian Schwartz at Fox Business, Vice President Mike Pence has negotiated an amendment with the Freedom Caucus that can be added to the American Health Care Act.
Schwartz sent out a series of tweets revealing the deal:
#BREAKING Sources tell me @mike_pence, @SpeakerRyan, @RepMarkMeadows and @RepTomMacArthur negotiated a possible amendment to the #AHCA.
— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbFBN) April 20, 2017
#BREAKING The possible amendment is titled the “MacArthur Amendment” and sources tell me it could bring up to 15-20 new @freedomcaucus votes
— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbFBN) April 20, 2017
#BREAKING No vote has been scheduled. The big questions are: Will members of the Tuesday Group support this? Will @Heritage_Action support?
— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbFBN) April 20, 2017
Here is a copy of the proposed amendment:
The amendment would reinstate many of the popular mandates in Obamacare, but would include a provision allowing states to request a waiver to the federal requirements, if they can show that they can produce better results at the state level.
The Freedom Caucus was the major hurdle for Paul Ryan when he first negotiated Obamacare’s repeal last month, if he is able to convince the caucus to support this proposed amendment, it could drastically improve the chances of Obamacare’s repeal passing the House. Giving states more power to craft health care legislation that is fine-tuned to the needs of its citizens is extremely important, and this amendment, which Vice President Pence reportedly negotiated, takes a major step forward in returning health care to the states.
Would you support this amendment to the Obamacare repeal? Will this help the bill pass the House? Share your thoughts below!