Another nail in the coffin of AHCA. Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA10) is the latest defection against the Trump/Ryan health care bill, according to TheHill.com. Also reported, White House press secretary Sean Spiker has announced the bill will be voted on at 3:30 pm today.
Please remember to thank our conservatives in Virginia who have opposed this bad bill, Congressmen Dave Brat, Rob Wittman, Tom Garrett and now Barbara Comstock!
UPDATE: Ryan says he doesn’t have the votes and the vote will take place at 3:30.
UPDATE 2: House Republicans are now meeting on the Hill and have postponed the vote, again. Speaker Ryan will make an announcement at 4:00. Sounds like he’s going to kill the bill. How will Trump respond?
15 comments
Me too, me too, me too, me too, me too! I did say me too, shouts Rep. Comstock to media, upon being informed of Ryan’s bill withdrawal and how really, really bad it was all along. Honest.
I’m convinced we can do better than this bill. We need a compassionate, market-based solution. What does that mean? It might mean that insurance goes back to being, well, insurance – for emergencies, major surgery, and other things that can’t well be funded out of pocket. And the cost of preventative care, good that it is, is driven down with competition and cash payments. And for those who can’t afford insurance, we need great options. Certainly for some, who temporarily, or through no fault of their own, are unable to care for themselves, Medicaid is an option. But for those who don’t qualify for Medicaid and aren’t otherwise insured, there do need to be options. What if we had a more robust charity care system where medical professionals could take a tax deduction for services provided on a charitable basis through a health care nonprofit? What if you couldn’t sue a health care provider who gave you charitable care except for negligence, keeping the cost of insurance down for the health care professional and nonprofit? Now, I don’t necessarily mind if people who go uninsured for awhile have to pay a little extra when they finally get insurance. That makes sense to me – but I don’t think the government should force employers to charge extra. Insurers should be able to compete to “onboard” the uninsured by offering the best rates they can. There does need to be a way of dealing with pre-existing conditions that doesn’t leave folks out in the cold because they have a condition they didn’t ask for though.
Wow, someone needs to find out why?
See the above comments.
Now matter how I agree with her decision, never did I believe she’d buck Ryan. Maybe we shouldn’t expect spring anytime soon, since the probability exists that Hades has frozen over.
She listened to her constituents? She listened to her party? She will set herself on fire before she ever votes with the President?
She must have read my email. 🙂
Her staff has always seemed friendly and receptive to at least give me the impression they heard my viewpoints (even if they immediately threw them away after hanging up).
And mine. ‘Don’t you dare throw me into that Trump patch!’
Maybe, but I suspect she seen that no matter how she voted, the bill was going down in flames. She decided to be on the Republican team to be able to claim she is maybe 10% conservative.
Congressman Wittman was out front on his no vote, as good leadership should be.
This is the leading edge of a landslide. The equities simply do not favor Republicans voting yes. First, their constituents don’t want a yes vote. 83% of Americans are against this. Second, a yes vote ratifies bad policy, and accedes to a very bad process (the bill was only unveiled three weeks ago, remember). Third is the Pottery Barn Rule: when Republicans break it, we buy it, and will pay for it in November 2018. Finally, their own self interest…anyone voting yes automatically opens room for a primary challenge from the right. That’s why when it is clear the votes aren’t there, a lot more than just the Freedom Caucus will jump into the No column.
This is a signal that it’s going down, and they know it.
Yep…the moderates will try to cover themselves in glory so as not to be seen to be less conservative than Brat, Garrett, and Wittman.
She was for the repeal of the repeal of Obamacare before she was against the replace of the replacement.
Yes, when they release Barbara to vote Conservative, you know the bill is toast.