Senate GOP Feeling Heat Over ACA Repeal

Boston Herald (MA)

May 08--WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans, taking up health care reform after last week's House vote to eliminate and replace several key Obamacare provisions, now face pressure from two sides: a White House eager for victory, and Democratic and other advocacy groups launching campaigns against lawmakers who support repeal.

President Trump, whose surrogates took to the Sunday political talk shows to express confidence that the Senate would follow the House's lead, tweeted a message urging lawmakers to act.

"Republican senators will not let the American people down!" Trump tweeted yesterday.

"ObamaCare premiums and deductibles are way up -- it was a lie and it is dead!"

Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, said voters would reward lawmakers who take aim at the federal health care law, a key campaign trail promise made by Trump and other Republicans.

"By the time people see that the premiums are lower, there's a better service, there's more options and more choices, they're going to reward the Republicans that sat up and said, 'We are not going to see the Obamacare system, which is failing and collapsing, continue any longer,'" Priebus said on "Fox News Sunday."

But Democratic groups as well as health care and senior advocacy organizations have already launched ads against Senate Republicans taking up the health care repeal bill, as well as House GOP members who voted for the bill in the lower chamber.

A new digital ad launched by the American Bridge PAC begins with the narrator stating: "They lied to us, making promises that they could not keep" while showing images of Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sens. Jeff Flake, Dean Heller, Marco Rubio and other Republicans. It ends: "Tell Senate Republicans this is their mess now, and we are watching."

Another ad launched unusually early in the congressional re-election season comes from AARP, and targets House Republicans, warning that people with pre-existing conditions could face premium hikes of as much as $25,000 a year under the House-passed bill.

"While millions of older Americans get priced out of coverage, big drug and insurance companies get billions in tax breaks," the ad states.

"We promised to hold members of Congress accountable for their vote on this bill," Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president for AARP, said of the campaign, which includes emails, social media and other communications. "True to our promise, AARP is now letting its 38 million members know how their elected representative voted on this health bill."

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