It has been a long, uphill battle for Donald Trump during his first 100-some days in office, but today, a victory was had.
On his second attempt to cash in a campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, a disastrous piece of healthcare legislation leftover from the previous administration, the President and the republican party were successful…at least somewhat.
Instead of repealing and replacing the awful Affordable Healthcare Act, congress was able to move forward with the implementation of a revised version of the legislation.
“The bill passed after moderate Republicans fretted this week about how well the bill will protect patients with pre-existing conditions. Many, including former Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), previously came out against the bill, but now support it after GOP leaders agreed to add an amendment adding $8 billion to help cover people with pre-existing conditions.
“The vote comes after a tumultuous process for the bill, which has seen previously scheduled votes pulled after Speaker Paul Ryan failed to accumulate enough Republican support. Speaker Ryan received widespread criticism after drafting the bill in secret and retaining many parts of Obamacare. Pundits dubbed the original bill, ‘Ryancare.’“House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) stepped up and brokered a revised version of the bill, known as the MacArthur amendment, along with Tuesday Group co-chairman Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ). The addition of the amendment collected enough Republican votes to pass the bill.
“Meadows’ efforts in no small part seem to have succeeded where Ryan failed, rallying his House Republican colleagues behind a years-long campaign promise to repeal and replace Obamacare–despite the fact that this bill does not constitute a full repeal of the previous president’s signature law.”
This is merely the first step for the new incarnation of the AHCA, which will likely see some major changes once it reaches the Senate.
Possibly more important than the passage of the bill itself is the breakup of the anti-Trump brigade in congress, who have made the President’s first 100 days a miserable experience. Where Trump was pushing forward to radically improve the way our nation operates, a massive resistance movement emerged in the legislative branch. Not only were the democrats responsible for massively irritating stifling and stalling of progress, but some republicans refused to climb aboard the Trump train, instead opting to continue with their Washington-insider ways.
The original bevy of campaign-promise failures, stymied by an unofficial bipartisan task force hellbent on maintaining the status quo, did create one positive effect: A windfall of information on who is willing to play ball with the President has fallen into the republicans’ lap. Now, in his efforts to drain the swamp, Donald Trump at least knows where to drill his holes.
Via http://constitution.com/trump-win-house-passes-revised-healthcare-act/
CRTXNEWS. All rights reserved www.crtxnews.com