The Freedom Caucus is tired of waiting for legislation to repeal Obamacare, and on Tuesday called out Republican leadership for trying to include replacement provisions in the repeal package.
“The American people cannot afford to wait any longer for us to prove that we are working to relieve their burdens,” according to a statement from the caucus released Tuesday. “There is no reason for Republicans to send anything less on repeal to President Trump’s desk than we did President Obama’s desk.”
The statement comes as leaders of the ultra-conservative group chafed at the current approach adopted by GOP leadership. Four House and Senate committees are drafting repeal legislation for Obamacare that can be approved in the Senate through the reconciliation process.
That process allows bills to be approved by a simple 51-vote majority instead of getting the 60 votes that are normally needed for legislation, a tall order for the GOP that has a bare 52-48 seat majority.
Several GOP senators and lawmakers have expressed doubts about immediately repealing the law without a replacement. The goal has been to gut Obamacare’s taxes and mandates through reconciliation, but leave parts of it intact for a few years while a GOP alternative is written and passed.
So far, committees are considering several replacement provisions but no reconciliation language has been released yet.
The Freedom Caucus wants to hold a swift vote on just a repeal package without any replacements. Caucus leaders Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said during a Heritage Foundation briefing last week that Congress should vote on the reconciliation bill passed by GOP in 2015.
That bill, which was vetoed by former President Obama, called for repealing the law’s taxes and mandates and left Congress two years to put together an alternative. Some GOP lawmakers have pushed for a four-year transition.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said he aims to get legislation on Obamacare done this year. He has previously sought a goal of a vote on reconciliation legislation by the end of March or possibly April.
