Lehigh Valley Tea Party opposes GOP Obamacare repeal bill

March 09--The Lehigh Valley Tea Party said Thursday that it opposes the House Republicans' Obamacare repeal measure, joining with national conservative groups and lawmakers that have been skeptical of the proposal.

"This is not what we voters were promised," said Tom Campione, the group's chairman, in a statement.

The organization said it wants to see "a true free-market solution that does not require by force of law, the purchase of any product, or payment to any entity." It also called for a repeal bill to be "based upon sound free-market principles, such as interstate competition."

The conservative House Freedom Caucus also have expressed concerns about the bill. Their lack of support limits options for GOP leaders as they seek to wrangle the 218 Republican votes needed for passage.

The local Tea Party group's position statement comes a day after a meeting between President Donald Trump and leaders of several national conservative groups that have come out against the repeal bill: Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks and the Tea Party Patriots. Those national groups have described the bill as "Obamacare lite."

CNN reported that those groups sought to move up the date for overhauling Medicaid's funding to January 2018 instead of 2020. White House aides said they were "open to discussing" it, according to the news outlet.

Trump also reportedly told those organization's leaders that he plans to campaign in support of the repeal bill in states that voted for him and have Democrats up for re-election next year.

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