Amidst questions about the Trump administration’s commitment to an Obamacare replacement bill released by House Republicans Monday night, Rep. Thomas Massie expressed his own doubts about the president’s allegiance.
In a Tuesday afternoon interview, Massie told the Washington Examiner, “I’m just not yet buying that this is Trump’s plan.”
Massie, a libertarian-leaning Congressman who has generally supported Trump, called the House plan a “swamp creature” and a “stinking pile of garbage” written by the insurance lobby.
Though President Trump called the House bill “wonderful” in a Tuesday morning tweet, he also called for “review and negotiation” and previewed as many as three additional phases of the “rollout.”
In a formal endorsement of the bill made explicitly on behalf of the Trump administration, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price referred to it as a “first step.” Then, at a press conference later in the day, Price declined to endorse every component of the bill, calling it a “work in progress” that is “likely to undergo various changes before it becomes law.”
In his interview with the Examiner, Massie cited broader divergences between the “Better Way” agenda pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan (whom Massie voted against on the floor in January) and the agenda on which Donald Trump campaigned and won. “In the first two months, we’ve been papering over those huge differences,” Massie explained, “and I think it’s about to come out.”
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
