Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez likened Republican lawmakers to a “circular firing squad” Wednesday as Republicans look to overcome the daunting task of repealing and replacing Obamacare with the American Health Care Act, which has received blowback from many conservative members of their caucus.
Perez took part in Wednesday’s House Democratic caucus meeting and pointed the finger at Republicans over their efforts to overhaul the health care system, which is backed by President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and is going through a markup in the House Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce Committees.
“When you spend as many years spinning alternative facts and parallel universes, and now you come into that collision course with reality, that’s why you are observing the circular firing squad that is the Republican Party on healthcare,” Perez said. “They made their own bed on this. They ought to listen to their own constituents because their constituents are telling them that the Affordable Care Act is a lifesaver.”
Perez made the comments at a press conference after the meeting where he was joined by Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Democratic caucus, and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the DNC’s deputy chairman. Ellison narrowly lost the chairman’s race to Perez just over two weeks ago.
The DNC chairman’s remarks come less than two days after the GOP’s healthcare bill was revealed. Since then, it incurred opposition from various corners of the GOP, including from the House Freedom Caucus, who have labeled it “Obamacare lite” or “Obamacare 2.0.” Trump himself is slated to meet with members of the Freedom Caucus later on Wednesday.
Other more moderate Republican lawmakers, specifically in the Senate, have concerns about the future of Medicaid expansion, which the bill phases out by 2020.
Outside groups on the right, such as Heritage Action and the Club for Growth, have also come out against the proposal en masse. The Club for Growth bashed it as “RyanCare” and a “warmed-over substitute for government-run healthcare.”
