Republicans Continue to Be Deeply Divided Over How to Replace the Affordable Care Act

Office of the Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer

January 31, 2017

Republicans Continue to Be Deeply Divided Over How to Replace the Affordable Care Act

At last week's GOP retreat, Congressional Republicans confirmed what Democrats and the American people have known all along: they have no real plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Audio recordings from the retreat show they continue to be deeply divided over how to replace the law and protect millions of Americans from losing their coverage or seeing their health care costs dramatically increase:

Rep. Tom MacArthur (NJ-03): "We're telling those people that we're not going to pull the rug out from under them, and if we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them."

Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-04): "We'd better be sure that we're prepared to live with the market we've created...That's going to be called Trumpcare. Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and we'll be judged in the election less than two years away."

Rep. John Faso (NY-19): "We are just walking into a gigantic political trap if we go down this path of sticking Planned Parenthood in the health insurance bill...If you want to do it somewhere else, I have no problem, but I think we are creating a political minefield for ourselves -- House and Senate."

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): "It sounds like we are going to be raising taxes on the middle class in order to pay for these new credits."

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): "Our goal, in my opinion, should be not a quick fix. We can do it rapidly -- but not a quick fix...We want a long-term solution that lowers costs."

With a new Quinnipiac University poll showing that 84% of Americans oppose Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement, Republicans should be concerned. But instead of putting forward a real replacement plan, Republicans are attempting to distract the American people by holding hearings and introducing disparate health care bills. The legislation they have put forward is not a serious attempt to replace the law. In fact, the bill introduced by Rep. Greg Walden (OR-02) ahead of an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing this week has an entire section on coverage that simply states:

After seven years and sixty-five votes to repeal or undermine the ACA, Republicans still don't have a real plan to replace the law. Democrats will continue to fight against Republican efforts to take away health care from millions of Americans and raise costs for millions more.

Go to: https://www.democraticwhip.gov/sites/default/files/ACA%20leaked%20tape%20Document%20013017%20FINAL.pdf to read the PDF.