The House Judiciary Committee’s first markup of healthcare-related legislation Tuesday was a sure sign that when it comes to legislating healthcare this year, there will be blood on the floor, perhaps literally.
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., accused Republicans—or possibly lobbyists—of “figuratively twisting arms” during Tuesday’s proceedings.
Johnson offered an amendment to the GOP’s Protecting Access to Care Act, which would preempt certain state medical tort laws.
Johnson’s amendment originally passed, but then Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., allowed subsequent parliamentary votes that ultimately led to the amendment’s defeat.
Johnson accused unnamed people of forcing Republican committee members to change their votes.
“Bad things are happening back there in that back room,” Johnson charged, saying that the arm-twisting might be both figurative and literal.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., then moved to “take down” Johnson’s words—a rebuke for making indecorous statements.
Issa said Johnson was “disparaging” Goodlatte by implying the chairman was strong-arming members.
Johnson withdrew his words—thereby avoiding a vote that could have led to a formal committee rebuke—but continued that he believed some unsavory dealings were happening in the private room behind the committee room used by Republicans.
“I guess the deck is stacked against me,” he concluded after his amendment ultimately was not adopted.
“There was some action taken to cause people to change their votes,” Johnson said when the committee broke to vote on unrelated legislation on the House floor. “Of course we went through some procedural shenanigans to try to offset what they were trying to do. But in the end they were able to produce enough votes to reconsider their previous vote” in favor of his amendment, he said.
He lauded Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, for never changing his mind.
“Big ups to Judge Poe … for sticking with his vote ‘yes’ on my amendment and ‘no’ on all efforts to bring the matter back up for reconsideration,” he said about the former judge from Houston.
Johnson said the happenings are proof that Republicans are siding with businesses over regular citizens.
The incident raises questions about “who are the Republicans doing the bidding of?” he asked. “It certainly was not the consumers … the people of America, who are hurt more often than we care to admit by acts of medical negligence.”
