Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Mark Meadows, and Rep. Jim Jordan spoke with reporters Tuesday to discuss their opposition to any legislation that does not fully repeal Obamacare.
Senator Paul (R-KY) said:
Basically, conservatives are coalescing around a complete repeal. Conservatives want no less than to vote on what they did a year ago with the 2015 repeal bill. I think that we have to votes now to tell the leadership that this is what we want to do. The GOP leadership are not putting through a complete repeal; leadership is putting through what some call “Obamacare-lite.” We are for a complete repeal. Last evening, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and myself tweeted our objections to partial repeal. House Freedom Caucus and the Republican Study Committee tweeted out their objections to complete repeal. I think that we have the votes, and we are a force to be reckoned with.
Mark Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said that everyone is not on board the Ryan plan for repealing and replacing Obamacare.
He noted:
It is not accurate to say that everyone is discussing the same plan. There are legitimate concerns from congressmen and senators like Rand Paul. I will say for Medicaid expansion that it is far less difficult to address than other issues, such as the proposed leadership plan that will create a new entitlement program that will increase the amount of Americans getting subsidies from 9.5 million to 40 million. So from a safety net provision, we are open to looking at options to address this problem that doesn’t create a crisis in a place like Ohio, where Medicaid was expanded, and places like North Carolina, where Medicaid was not expanded.
Breitbart News asked Senator Paul about the timeline of Obamacare replacement. Senator Paul said:
What we ought to do is the same day repeal and replace. Half of our replacement bill came from Health Secretary Tom Price and other conservatives. I think that we do have the votes to repeal and replace Obamacare, and I think there should be a separate repeal and replace package. I think that if you have the 2015 repeal bill, everyone will vote for that. For replacement and for Medicaid, we can vote on those issues separately to hash out those problems.
The Washington Times asked the panel about the Ryan plan’s new tax on employer-sponsored healthcare plans. Congressman Meadows (R-NC) explained, “No bones, this is a tax increase on people with employer-sponsored healthcare plans; it will force companies to drop their employer-provided plans.”
Melissa Quinn of The Daily Signal asked the panel if their hardline stance will put Obamacare repeal in jeopardy. Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) responded, “Not at all. We actually are going to do what we said we would do. What former Speaker Boehner said earlier about not repealing Obamacare is entirely Washington-speak. The position we have taken is the only position we have taken that is entirely consistent with what voters voted on November 8.”