The vote on getting rid of Obamacare is really now going to be close to call
For seven years Republicans has run on the message that they were going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Well today is the vote and the debate has started with Republicans looking for the 216 needed to pass their new healthcare plan.
The goal is to get an up or down vote on the bill sometime before six tonight. If the bill passes, then it goes to the Senate where they will likely rip it up and start all over again.
President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to Republicans to overturn the Democratic health care law and no one, not even the people in charge of counting the votes, can say what will happen.
The intense jockeying leading up to what they hope will be an afternoon vote has produced a rare moment of genuine uncertainty in Congress. A win would be a big confidence boost for the new president, as well as for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has staked much of his own political capital on passing the bill.
Eleventh-hour attempts to corral wavering Republicans led to some expensive deal making as the bill gets its final touches in committee. A handful of moderate Republicans — including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy — hailed the addition of $15 billion for maternity care, as well as mental health and substance.”
Already more than a dozen moderate Republicans have staked out positions against the measure. Several, including Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, New York Rep. Dan Donovan, New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance and Iowa Rep. David Young, reiterated that opposition late when speaking to the press this morning. Several hardline House conservatives are promising to join them, from Michigan Rep. Justin Amash to Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks.
The drumbeat of anti-Ryan commentary among conservative media commentators has reached a new intensity and has spread beyond Breitbart, the news organization once run by Trump advisor Steve Bannon that has long been critical of the Speaker.
Video from Fox News.