House Republicans Oppose American Health Care Act in Floor Debate

Sequence of House Republicans speaking in support of the American Health Care Act abruptly pulled from the House floor after last minute negotiations and a day of debate. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden says Republicans recognize that 19.2 million Americans said no to the Affordable Care Act and chose to pay a tax penalty for not taking insurance in the marketplace and insurers got out, which Republicans want to fix and make affordable, describing the intended process as a construction process that looks messy when the concrete is laid. California member Tom McClintock says that the American Health Care Act replaces coercion with choice, ending the individual and employer mandates in the health care law, presenting the last off-ramp from the law. Freshman member from Louisiana Clay Higgins calls Obamacare 8,000 pages of regulation and taxation, that no one believes Congress can produce 8,000 pages of freedom compared to 124 pages of reasonable legislation. Pennsylvania member Mike Kelly argues that Congress must act because the Obamacare is so Bad, evoking a Christmas list with everything he wanted but glad for everything he got, calling the health care law a rookie mistake that must be corrected for those who expect the People’s House to act in a marvelous opportunity. Iowa member Steve King says he was first to introduce a full repeal of Obamacare, calling the bill at hand a first bite at the repeal apple, listing features of the bill for which he would vote in support.