It is hard to overestimate the damage the Freedom Caucus has done to the fledgling presidency of Donald Trump, and to the country. By blocking the American Health Care Act of 2017, the conservative group has guaranteed that Americans will struggle forward under the burden of Obamacare. In the next few months insurers will announce their premium hikes for the coming year; chances are, given the continuing withdrawal of major companies from the marketplaces and the ongoing failure of the bill to attract enough young and healthy participants, the new rates will not be pretty. Last year premiums went up 25%; it’s likely the increases will be higher this year.
Republicans will own those higher rates. Their failure to repeal the financial underpinnings of Obamacare and start replacing that failing program with an approach that encourages competition and that embodies numerous other common sense reforms will mean that families hit by ever-higher costs will blame the GOP. Voters elected Donald Trump and a GOP Congress to get this job done – the number one promise of every Republican campaign since 2010.
Now the Republican Party inherits the Sisyphean task of managing Obamacare’s inevitable decline. They are no longer critics; they are now the producers of the show. It is unlikely that House Speaker Paul Ryan or Trump will have the political will and patience to return to the drawing board and attempt to craft a brand new bill. They have made other commitments to voters, and so Obamacare, as a defeated Paul Ryan admitted after withdrawing the AHCA, is the law of the land. Live with it.
We know who blew up the bill, reason two: House Freedom Caucus Chair kisses Trump heiny hard afterward. Mark Meadows, the Republican leader of the House Freedom Caucus, reacted on ABC’s This Week this morning to President Trump calling out the caucus in a tweet. More here >
House Freedom Caucus Chair Reacts to Trump Calling Them Out on Twitter
We know who blew up the bill, reason 3: The Freedom Caucus chair is scrambling to fix it: GOP must 'come together' "It's incumbent upon those two groups, the conservatives and the moderates to come together, hopefully in the coming days, to find consensus, to present something to the president that certainly not only gets him 216 votes, but, hopefully, 235 votes," Meadows (R-N.C.) said during an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. More here > Freedom Caucus chair: GOP must 'come together'
We know who blew up the bill, Part 4: Mulvaney blames his old Freedom Caucus, 'Rotten' Washington won.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney on Sunday lamented that the latest push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act had failed because Washington was "lot more rotten" than the Trump administration had thought.
Though Mulvaney, a former South Caroline representative and House Freedom Caucus member, emphasized that there was "plenty of blame to go around" as to why the American Health Care Act did not get a successful vote, he said the winner was clear. More here> Mulvaney on health care loss: 'Rotten' Washington won
We know who blew up the bill, reason 5: Freedom Caucus member resigns from group over Obamacare rift.
Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) resigned from the House Freedom Caucus over the group's opposition to the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
"I have resigned from the House Freedom Caucus. In order to deliver on the conservative agenda we have promised the American people for eight years, we must come together to find solutions to move this country forward," Poe wrote in a statement. "Saying no is easy, leading is hard, but that is what we were elected to do. Leaving this caucus will allow me to be a more effective Member of Congress and advocate for the people of Texas. It is time to lead." More here >