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ICYMI: Congressman Massie discusses the rise and fall of the AHCA aka Obamacare-Lite
I don't seek out the media, but this week I worked overtime to get the message out that ObamaCare-Lite would be bad for healthcare in our country. I also talked a lot about the broken process in Congress and accurately predicted that our own GOP leadership was misleading the President about congressional support for the AHCA as well as the content of the AHCA. Personally, I received 823 calls from you, the folks I serve, opposing this bill, while only 73 of you called me to express support for this bill. Nationally, support for this bill was only 17%. Congress can and must do better!
On Tuesday of last week, I was on For the Record with Greta Van Susteren. I warned that the whip team was still telling President Trump that the AHCA was a slam dunk when it clearly was not.
Watch here
Later, appearing on Fox Business with Kennedy, I discussed how Republicans are not nearly as good as Democrats in designing socialized medicine- so we should stop trying.
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On Wednesday morning, I joined Alex Marlow, Leland Conway, and Glenn Beck, to discuss my concerns with the "Obamacare-Lite" proposal that GOP Leadership tried to force on Republicans and the American people.
Speaking with Kate Bolduan on Out Front, I hypothesized that leadership may pull the bill from the House floor and that if they did not, it was likely to fail. These predictions turned out to be accurate when GOP Leadership decided to pull the AHCA on Friday.
We can go back to the drawing board and bring conservatives to the table, instead of trying to break their kneecaps and twist their arms after the bill is written.
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On Thursday, the day we were originally scheduled to vote on the AHCA- the 7th Anniversary of former President Obama signing Obamacare into law- I joined the hosts of Morning Joe to discuss how the AHCA was worse than Obamacare.
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That afternoon, I appeared on Cavuto: Coast to Coast on the Fox Business channel to discuss why I changed my vote from a “No” to a “Hell No” on the AHCA.
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Later Thursday, I appeared on Wolf Blitzer.
"I've been saying all week they're short two dozen votes. And they said, 'Oh we're good. We like where we are.' That's been false all week. The Speaker could have saved us some trouble by acknowledging that on the Sunday shows a week ago. I would say they're at least 20 votes short. [in addition to the 21 they can afford to lose]"
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This morning, I joined Fox & Friends to discuss a viable path forward for repealing Obamacare.
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Moving forward, if we split the AHCA into three separate bills: repeal, Medicaid reform, and then replacement, Congress can get to 218 votes needed for each individual bill to pass. It won't be the same 218 members though; I can vote for repeal and for Medicaid reform, but I cannot vote for a replacement that includes penalties, mandates, subsidies, and bailouts. The Speaker will need Democrat votes to pass an Obamacare-Lite replacement bill.
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