Mediaboss Marketing

Republicans abruptly pulled their health care bill from the House floor on Friday, just minutes ahead of a planned vote, dealing a devastating blow to efforts by President Donald Trump and the GOP to repeal and replace Obamacare.

"This is a disappointing day for us," Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters shortly after the bill was yanked. "Doing big things is hard. All of us, myself included, will need time to reflect how we got to this moment, what we could have done to do it better."

Ryan said he told Trump around noon the White House that they didn't have the Republican votes needed to pass the bill. "I told him that the best thing I think to do is to pull this bill and he agreed with that decision," Ryan said.

Speaking via phone later at 3:00 p.m. EST, Trump said Democrats in the House all of whom had planned to vote against the bill shoulder the blame for the defeat. "Obamacare is exploding," the president said in the Oval Office. "With no Democrat support, we couldn't quite get there. We were just a very small number of votes short in terms of getting our bill passed."

"I'm disappointed," Trump said, adding, "I'm a little surprised to be honest with you."

The president thanked Republicans in the House, especially Ryan, saying, "I think Paul really worked hard" to get the bill passed.

"We all learned a lot, we learned a lot about loyalty, we learned a lot about the vote-getting process, we learned a lot about arcane rules," Trump said.

Trump predicted that Obamacare would soon "explode" and that its collapse would bring Democrats to the table to negotiate a bipartisan health care bill with him.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was proud of Democrats for standing in unison against the GOP bill, calling the result "a victory for the American people."

"The unity of our House Democratic members was a very important message to the country that we are very proud of the Affordable Care Act," she told reporters.

But ultimately, it was Republicans who sealed their own fate. The diverse caucus was unable to unify, even on a six-year old campaign pledge that has handed the Republican Party victory in the past three elections.

Leadership attempted to craft a bill to appeal to the most moderate factions of the party as well as the most conservative, but the two sides couldn't come to a compromise. The result was a bill that few liked.

Republicans left a closed-door conference Friday afternoon where they were informed the bill would not be brought to a vote feeling defeated after an exhausting few days.

Rep. Mark Meadows R.-N.C., the chairman and primary spokesman for the Freedom Caucus, which is the conservative group that stood their ground in opposition, said nothing but "no comment." He later put out a statement saying he remains "wholeheartedly committed" to repealing Obamacare.

And the finger pointing began.

When Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican from a swing district in Colorado, was asked where the process went wrong, he said that members who didn't support the bill "are going to have to go home and explain that."

RELATED: Trump Blames Democrats

Meanwhile, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Michigan, a member of the conservative bloc that Coffman referenced, said that Ryan was "wrong" to offer a "binary" choice of vote for the bill or support Obamacare.

"A true legislative process is where we act as a deliberative body and we try to reflect the will of the American people," Amash said.

"I think we got a group of people that are traditionally a 'no' on everything, and they vote as a bloc and you gotta penetrate that block," Coffman said.

The move to halt the vote came after a chaotic week of intense negotiations to convince at least 215 Republicans to support the leadership-written health care bill, but it was ultimately not enough to fulfill a seven-year long pledge to undo the Affordable Care Act, one of Trump's major themes on the campaign trail last year.

The pressure for passage began in earnest earlier in the week when the president traveled to Capitol Hill for the big sell and warned Republicans that they would lose their seats and the House majority if they failed to follow through with their campaign pledge.

Trump and Ryan continued to meet with Republicans who were undecided or against the measure throughout the week and twice changed the bill in a bid to attract more support.

But those efforts weren't enough to convince moderate Republicans that it wouldn't harm people in their districts who have enjoyed expanded Medicaid coverage and financial assistance in purchasing health care. And they weren't enough for the conservative Republicans who thought that the government was too involved in in the health care industry and that it doesn't do enough to reduce the cost of health insurance premiums.

Follow this link:
Republicans Pull Health Care Bill From House Floor

House Republicans simply did not have enough GOP votes to pass the health care bill, which also was supported by President Donald Trump.

Republican leaders pulled the bill from the House floor minutes ahead of a schedule vote, rather than watch it go down to defeat.

According to a tally by NBC News, at least 34 Republicans had said publicly over the last few days that they were planning to vote against the measure or leaning toward voting no on the "American Health Care Act." It's possible there were other Republican lawmakers who also would have voted no but had not yet made their position public. All House Democrats had planned to vote against the bill.

Related: Trump Warns: GOP Will Lose Seats By Opposing Health Care Bill

Here are the House Republicans who opposed the bill:

Jim Jordan (OH)

Mark Meadows (NC)

Justin Amash (MI)

Dave Brat (VA)

Raul Labrador (ID)

Mo Brooks (AL)

Rob Wittman (VA)

Thomas Massie (KY)

Tom Garrett (VA)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)

Leonard Lance (NJ)

Louie Gohmert (TX)

John Katko (NY)

Brian Fitzpatrick (PA)

Walter Jones (NC)

Ted Budd (NC)

Mark Sanford (SC)

Rick Crawford (AR)

Ted Yoho (FL)

Scott DesJarlais (TN)

Paul Gosar (AZ)

Rod Blum (IA)

Andy Harris (MD)

Dan Donovan (NY)

Frank LoBiondo (NJ)

David Young (IA)

Charlie Dent (PA)

Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA)

Mark Amodei (NV)

Daniel Webster (FL)

Andy Biggs (AZ)

Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ)

Dave Joyce (OH)

Barbara Comstock (VA)

Read the rest here:
These Republicans Could Doom GOP Health Bill - NBC News

Folks in Washington need a civics lesson. As Americans outside the beltway know, our federal government consists of the executive, legislative branch and judicial branches, and each has a duty to use its Constitutional authority in the best interests of all of us.

The executive branch that would be President Trump - has been working hard to keep the promises he made to the American people. But the legislative branch is not doing its part. The effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare, a promise not only Trump made to voters, but one virtually every Republican lawmaker signed on to, has been contentious, unorganized and disjointed.

And now, it is in jeopardy.

For seven long years, the GOP ran on repealing and replacing ObamaCare. They said, "Give us the House." They got that in 2010. They said, "Give us the House and the Senate." They got that in 2014. Then they said, "Give us the House, the Senate and the presidency." On Nov. 8, they got that wish, and frankly, in spite of many Republicans not even supporting the nominee of their party.

In a perfect world, the work on repealing and replacement of ObamaCare would have begun on Nov. 9. And in a perfect world, the GOP would have built consensus among the different factions within the GOP -- meaning the moderates, the conservatives, the Freedom Caucus, the Study Group -- before ever unveiling the bill. That, too, never happened.

Instead, in the two weeks leading up to the release of this bill, House members were saying they were dissatisfied with the legislative process. They were being left in the dark, they had concerns that the bill would not work for their constituents. And, by the way, they never got to see it. So once the American Health Care Act was really revealed, infighting and a public civil war ensued.

The bill was quickly labeled "RyanCare" after its champion, House Speaker Paul Ryan. Others called it "ObamaCare lite." President Trump didn't write this legislation, yet he was tasked with bringing together all the GOP factions and special interests to strike a deal. Respected groups and think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Cato, Americans for Prosperity, and frankly, every major conservative radio talk show host in the country and the American people, were all confused, angered and frustrated.

House Republicans the legislative branch were clearly ill-prepared for this moment to lead. They have now failed the president, and it's starting to look like they're the gang that can't shoot straight. President Trump was not served well by his party in the House of Representatives, and he has been put in the position now to do their job and marshal the votes to pass the bill.

My advice tonight for Ryan and the House Republicans is to do what they should have done from the beginning. Get everyone in a room, take away their phones, order pizza, get some beer and lock the doors. The meeting should include moderates, the GOP Study Group, the Freedom Caucus, members of the U.S. Senate, because we have to deal with the reconciliation and procedural issues. The White House should be represented, including the vice president, the Health and Human Services secretary.

And the meeting is not over until they have a deal a majority of the House can support. Even at this hour, there's still time.

House members, it is time to serve your president and the people you represent. It's time for you to fix this and show the American people that they did the right thing by giving you the power and the authority to lead.

Adapted from Sean Hannitys monologue on Hannity, March 24, 2017

Sean Hannity currently serves as host of FOX News Channel's (FNC) Hannity (weekdays 10-11PM/ET). He joined the network in 1996 and is based in New York. Click here for more information on Sean Hannity.

Continue reading here:
Sean Hannity: House Republicans leave Trump with heavy ...

American Action Network ran ads Friday like this one thanking California's David Valadao, and others, for repealing Obamacare.

Some basketball viewers on Friday night were subjected to television commercials that were guilty of peddling some alternative facts.

That's because in some markets with conservative-leaning districts, commercials aired praising some Republican House members for their efforts in repealing the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.

The problem of course is that repeal effort, which many thought would be a slam dunk, was abandoned because the House Republicans didn't have enough support from within their own ranks.

In the generic ads, the American Action Network, a conservative-leaning advocacy group, urged viewers to call their member of Congress to thank them for keeping their "promise and replacing the Affordable Care Act with a better health care you deserve."

According to the sports and culture website Deadspin, at least four of these ads ran Friday thanking Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-VA), Will Hurd (R-TX), David Valadao (R-CA), David Young (R-IA).

As of Saturday, another eight ads were still on the American Action Network's YouTube page praising Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rod Blum (R-IA), Gred Walden (R-OR), Don Bacon (R-NE), Kevin Brady (R-TX), Mike Coffman (R-CO) and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL).

The premature ad buy was supposed to coincide with the long-awaited victory lap Washington Republicans campaigned on that once they controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, Obamacare would be tossed out.

Instead, in the midst of March Madness yet another upset took place. This one took place in the halls of Congress, when Speaker Ryan told reporters Friday:

"I don't know what else to say other than Obamacare is the law of the land. It's going to remain the law of the land."

As NPR has reported, Speaker Ryan called the defeat a "learning experience."

President Trump and House Republicans are now expected to turn their attention to another difficult overhaul taxes.

Read more:
Oops... PAC Runs TV Ads Thanking Some Republicans For Repealing Obamacare - NPR

Republicans withdrew the American Health Care Act moments before a scheduled vote on March 24, after failing to woo enough lawmakers to support it. Here are the key turning points in their fight to pass the bill. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Why were Republicans rushing to vote on a health-care plan that they'd barely finished drafting, that budget scorekeepers hadn't had a chance to fully evaluate, and that, insofar as people did know about it, was widely despised?

In part, it's because their plan was so unpopularand because it got more unpopular the more people learnedabout it.But it's also because only by rushingto reshape a full sixth of the American economy without knowing exactly how they would be reshaping it would Republicans be able to use health care to pave the way for the rest of their agenda, including tax reform.In other words, the GOPdidn't want to let a detail like tens of millions of people losing theirhealth insurance get in the way of two tax cuts for the rich.

Here's what we knewabout the Republican plan. The latest version that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had a chance to analyze would have, over the course of 10 years, cut taxes by$1 trillion, disproportionately benefiting the rich; cut Medicaid spending by $839 billion, exclusively harming the poor and sick; and cut the Affordable Care Act's health insurance subsidies by about $300 billion, mostly hurting older people of modest means. Add it all up, and the CBO estimated that 24 million people would have lost their health insurance as a result. Not only that, but premiums would have increased 15 percent to 20 percent more than they otherwise would have in the next four years before so many older people were priced out of the market that premiums would have started to come down, and deductibles, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, would have been an average of $1,550 higher. In short: The GOP would have made insurance more affordable for younger people by making it unaffordable for older people and worse for everyone.

This wasn't just a matter of higher premiums and higher deductibles, though. Trumpcare also would have repealed the essential health benefits that plans are required to cover now. States would have been allowed to write their own rules, so, depending on where you lived, insurance companies might have been able to sell you insurance that didn't coverhospitalizations, prescription drugs, maternity care, mental health care and preventive care, and also imposedannual and lifetime limits on your benefits. People who couldn't afford insurance that actually, you know, insured them might have bought these skimpy plans with their skimpy tax credits why not use them on a fake something instead of a real nothing? but neither the CBO nor they themselves likely would have thought of this as being covered.

The surprising thing, then, isn't that as few as 17 percent of people approved of the American Health Care Act. It's that as many as 17 percent did.

But there's a reason the GOP was pushing a bill that would have taken everything people don't like about the health-care system and made it worse. That's the fact that it would have allowed them to pass two permanent tax cuts for the rich. Anyone, you see, can pass a tax cut that expires after 10 years. But if you want to make it last and you don't have 60 votes in the Senate then you need to find a way to pay for it (or at least look like you did). Taking health insurance away from poor and sick people would have done just that for the Obamacare taxes, which primarily hit people in the top 1 or 2 percent. Indeed, as you can see below in the chart from the Urban Institute, the combination of tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for the poor that was the GOP health-care plan would have been areverse Robin Hood that redistributed income from people making $50,000 or less to mostlythose making $200,000 or more.

Now, the crazy thing is that this first tax cut for the rich (in the form of Obamacarerepeal and replace) would have made a secondone (this one coming in the form of tax reform) look more affordable.

That's because, due to parliamentary rules, tax revisions can't lose any revenue outside the 10-year budget window if it's going to be permanent. The question, though, is lose revenue compared to what. If Republicans had repealed the Affordable Care Act's $1 trillion worth of taxes before they revised taxes, that's $1 trillion less they'd have to come up with to make it look like money wasn't being lost. Now, without those phantom savings, tax restructuring, Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.)admitted, willbe more difficult. Not that it was ever going to be easy. After all, the $1 trillion they were trying to save witha border adjustment tax seems to be on political life support, since every major retailer, including big GOP donors such as Walmart, is opposed to it. And, as you might have guessed, there aren't an extra $2 trillion of savings lying around for them to replace the ones they thought they were going to get from this and repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Which is to say that Republicans will either have to scale back their ambitions for how deeply they will cut taxes or how long they will. Whatever they choose, though, the top tax rate isn't going to stay under 30 percent.

And for the GOP, that's the real tragedy of 24 million people keeping their health insurance.

Read the original here:
Why Republicans were in such a hurry on health care - Washington Post