The White House continues to argue that the House Republican health-care bill is the best and only way to repeal Obamacare. “No matter where you are, especially on the conservative side, you cannot possibly believe that the current health care system is an effective program,” said press secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday.
Spicer’s implication, and the White House’s view, is that the American Health Care Act (or is it Trumpcare? Ryancare?) is an effective response to an ineffective health-care regime. When I asked Spicer what the administration’s “Plan B” is if this bill fails, he responded that “Plan A” is all there is and all that’s needed.
The task of the administration, along with Paul Ryan and the House leadership, is to convince enough Republicans in Congress and conservatives in the broader political environment that this is true. So far, they are struggling mightily.
Cotton Picks a Fight
And this didn’t help the White House’s mission. Early Thursday morning, staunch Trump ally Tom Cotton, the Republican senator from Arkansas, tweeted out why he thought the current approach led by the House is misguided.
“House health-care bill can’t pass Senate w/o major changes. To my friends in House: pause, start over. Get it right, don’t get it fast,” Cotton said. “GOP shouldn’t act like Dems did in O’care. No excuse to release bill Mon night, start voting Wed. With no budget estimate!…What matters in long run is better, more affordable health care for Americans, NOT House leaders’ arbitrary legislative calendar.”
In a mini media blitz Thursday, Cotton repeated the same message. Watch his interview with Jake Tapper on CNN for a fuller explication of his point. Tapper played a video clip of Paul Ryan making the case for his bill. “This is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing Obamacare,” the House speaker said.
“Of course that’s not the case, Jake,” Cotton responded. “There’s no urgency here, there’s no deadline. We need to get health-care reform right. We don’t have to get it fast.”
Cotton’s message is directed at the House, but the real intended target is likely Trump himself, who tweeted on Thursday that “despite what you hear in the press, healthcare is coming along great.” Trump may not believe the media that the AHCA is all but dead on arrival, but he may listen to a trusted ally on the Hill.
Spicer, when asked about Cotton’s Thursday morning tweets, suggested the criticism was all part of the “process.” “Well, we’re going to engage. [Trump] has talked to Senator Cotton. We’ll continue to talk to any senator that has questions or concerns or ideas,” Spicer said. Even a senator who suggests the White House gets a Plan B?
What Should Plan B Be?
At National Review Online, Yuval Levin has a characteristically thorough and thoughtful essay on one of the House bill’s most problematic features: The AHCA can’t decide if it wants to be a full-fledged repeal of Obamacare. Here’s Levin explaining the choice for Republicans who want to improve what they’ve begun:
Read the whole thing, which also includes a positive assessment of several reforms the bill initiates.
A White House Celebrity Emerges
It wasn’t quite as exciting as seeing the president of the United States strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue, but it may have been the next best thing. The area outside the White House’s northwest gate, which opens up to Lafayette Park and the pedestrian-only stretch of Pennsylvania along the north lawn, is a popular spot for Washington tourists and protestors. You can snap a pretty good and relatively close photo of the White House.
But the visitors milling around on warm, sunny Thursday got a treat when White House counselor Kellyanne Conway emerged late in the morning. A family from out-of-town did a visible double take at seeing Conway, then immediately asked for a photo. Conway happily obliged, asked the family where they were from, and then walked a few more feet—to another set of excited tourists, with camera phone in hand.
Song of the Day
“Come With Me Now,” Kongos
