Conservative and libertarian-leaning lawmakers are bashing “Obamacare Lite,” the recently revealed Obamacare replacement bill drafted behind closed doors by establishment Republican leadership.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is leading the opposition to the replacement bill on Twitter, arguing anything short of a complete repeal of Obamacare would be a betrayal to the American people.
Th House leadership plan is Obamacare Lite. It will not pass. Conservarives are not going to take it. #FullRepeal
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 7, 2017
“We own repeal. We ran on it. It is our idea. We have to pass it cleanly, now,” Paul said in an op-ed drafted with House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows. “Then we owe the American people a real-old fashioned period of allowing all ideas to be debated and voted on to produce the best product possible.”
For his part, Meadows argued the Obamacare replacement bill “sets a new entitlement, keeps some taxes and doesn’t repeal all of Obamacare.”
“We really need to look at some amendments, to make sure that we get rid of the taxes, we put something on President Obama’s desk a few months ago, and to suggest that what we put on President Trump’s desk sets a new entitlement, keeps some taxes, doesn’t repeal all of Obamacare,” he said during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s Hannity.
“We’ve got to do better, and hopefully, with some amendments, we can do that.”
Texas Representative Louie Gohmert, appearing with Meadows on Hannity, agreed with Meadow’s suggestion that the replacement bill creates a new entitlement and argued it could also force citizens to pay healthcare costs for illegal immigrants.
“We are going to force citizens, it looks like, to end up paying for people’s healthcare that are illegally here,” he said.
Libertarian-leaning Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan simply tweeted “Obamacare 2.0.”
Obamacare 2.0 https://t.co/p0zKkMD3UT
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 6, 2017
Maine Governor Paul LePage said he was “very, very discouraged and disappointed” with the replacement bill.
“Right now, I am very, very discouraged and disappointed with what the House Republicans are introducing,” he said on WVOM Maine radio. “Basically it’s not much better than—in fact, I don’t know, they haven’t scored it yet, so we don’t know what the cost is. But based on what I see and I’m reading and what has happened here in Maine over the last 15 years, I don’t think it’s an improvement.”
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