Some in Arkansas delegation say opportunity to get rid of Obama health law missed

Rick Crawford
Rick Crawford

WASHINGTON — House Republicans blew their chance to get rid of former President Barack Obama’s health care law and it’s a decision they’ll eventually regret, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack said Friday.

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Special to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

French Hill

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Bruce Westerman

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Steve Womack

The four-term Republican from Rogers blamed his own party, portraying Friday’s outcome as a failure of leadership.

“We haven’t learned to govern. It’s like … we are stuck and we’re still in the minority, and all we know how to do is vote ‘no,’” he said in an interview. “Today we had an opportunity to make the health care system in this country better, more affordable and more accessible, and we just failed to execute it, so I’m terribly disappointed.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan summoned the Republican lawmakers Friday afternoon so he could inform them of his decision. After an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, he announced there would be no vote and that the bill would be pulled.

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The meeting “lasted about two minutes, and most of that was the prayer,” Womack said.

While some Republicans portrayed Friday’s decision as a temporary setback, Womack questioned whether this Congress will find a way to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“Unless there’s some epiphany on the part of the 35 or so people who were opposed to it on our side, unless they have some epiphany, then we’re going to be stuck with Obamacare. It’s pretty simple,” he said.

Womack was one of three members of the House delegation from Arkansas who had promised to support the proposed American Health Care Act.

The other two, U.S. Reps. French Hill of Little Rock and Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, also Republicans, said they regretted that the legislation hadn’t advanced.

“This leaves the country with a health care system in serious trouble,” Hill said. “This was an important first step, and its failure today causes us to regroup and reassess how we can find a strategy to fix this broken law.”

Hill portrayed Friday’s decision as a pause, not a permanent setback, and defended the decision to cancel the vote.

“I think if you don’t have the votes to make progress, it is a good idea to step back and reflect,” he said.

In text messages, Westerman said the battle to end the Affordable Care Act will continue.

“[I’m] disappointed that the largest entitlement cut and tax break ever proposed died because it wasn’t conservative enough, but [hopeful] and optimistic that somehow something good will come of it,” he wrote. “The healthcare problem doesn’t go away but now gets worse so we have to address it in due time.”

Although he wanted the final legislation to be more conservative, Westerman said he was prepared to vote yes “to keep the process moving forward so the bill could be improved even more.”

“We really did give up the achievable for the impossible but we can’t stop working for a solution,” he added.

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, the only House member from Arkansas who opposed the legislation, said he remains committed to ending the Affordable Care Act.

“We’re going to take a pause here, come back next week and chart a new course,” he said. The Republican from Jonesboro said “artificial deadlines” aren’t helpful.

“We have time to get this right,” he added.

Crawford was firmly opposed to the legislation, portraying it as an expensive, irresponsible and unsustainable federal entitlement program.

Now that it has been shelved, Republicans can come up with something better, he said.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle who also opposed the legislation, said in a written statement that Ryan had made the right call.

“Like President Trump, I remain committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare, but I think pulling the bill today was the right decision. Now we should take the time to find a solution that will provide quality health care for all Arkansans and all Americans.”

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, was traveling and was unreachable early Friday evening, his spokesman said.

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