The House Republican leadership touted a letter from a dozen conservative groups supporting its plan to repeal Obamacare, after more prominent groups complained it wasn’t conservative enough.
A collection of 12 groups sent a letter to Congress Wednesday supporting the American Health Care Act, sending GOP leaders a lifeline as they try to deal with mounting opposition from conservatives and moderates to the plan to repeal and partially replace Obamcare.
What they say: The groups note that the bill is the first step to repealing the Affordable Care Act. “As advocates of free-market principles and limited government, we endorse this significant legislation,” the letter said.
Who signed the letter: Most prominent among the groups is the Americans for Tax Reform, which is run by Grover Norquist. Norquist is a deficit hawk who calls on all Republicans to sign a pledge of no new taxes.
The other groups are the are the National Taxpayers Union, Association of Mature American Citizens, Center of the American Experiment, Citizens against Government Waste, Independent Women’s Voice, Institute for Liberty, Log Cabin Republicans, Market Institute, Obamacare Repeal Coalition and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Counsel.
Who’s missing: Major conservative groups Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth and the Koch brothers-backed Freedom Partners did not sign the letter.
Each of those groups has opposed the legislation, arguing that it isn’t conservative enough and is missing key elements such as selling plans across state lines. The groups are also angry it doesn’t fully repeal Obamacare, calling for the law to first be repealed before considering any replacement.
Club for Growth has called the plan “RyanCare,” not as a compliment to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Will the new support help? It’s hard to say at this point, although it gives the GOP leadership something to hang its hat on after taking flack from conservative lawmakers since they announced the legislation last week.
