Washington – Congressman Quits Post In GOP Group Over Health Care Bill

    3

    Washington – A New Jersey Republican congressman who helped push the House health care bill to passage quit his post Tuesday as a chairman of the chamber’s moderate Tuesday Group, criticizing colleagues for having “different objectives and a different sense of governing than I do.”

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Rep. Tom MacArthur, a second-term congressman, played a central role in reviving the GOP legislation after an initial version collapsed under opposition from GOP moderates and conservatives.

    He and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote language that helped push the bill over the top early this month.

    It included letting states get federal permission for insurers to boost premiums on people with pre-existing medical conditions, and to drop insurance coverage requirements under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Senate Republicans are now trying to write version of the legislation.

    The House bill passed over opposition from all voting Democrats and 20 Republicans, many of whom are in the Tuesday Group and argued that the measure went too far in diminishing health care coverage for people.

    In a written statement, MacArthur said some members of the group “bristled” as he tried making the group a relevant force on key issues.

    “While some embraced my efforts as co-chairman, others have bristled,” the former insurance executive said. “Clearly, our group is divided. Many in the Tuesday Group are eager to live up to our ideal of being problem-solvers, while others seem unwilling to compromise.”

    MacArthur said that Republicans won a congressional majority partly because of their pledge to repeal Obama’s law.

    “Inaction on health care was a non-starter for me, and it should be for our entire party. We owe it to the American people who elected us to fix the Obamacare mess,” he said, adding later, “It’s clear that some in the Tuesday Group have different objectives and a different sense of governing than I do.”

    Democrats hoping to defeat MacArthur in next year’s elections criticized him Tuesday.

    In a statement by spokesman Evan Lukaske, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — House Democrats’ political arm — said MacArthur showed “a disturbing lack of regard for the families of his district” and called him “a right-wing ideologue.”


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    3 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    6 years ago

    It’s a shame that society has such a sense of entitlement . I had proposed two simple things for medicad .
    1) charge a small copay like the cost of an iPhone or Big Mac
    2) make a work on wellness program . Those not commited to work on keeping health life styles should have to pay a little extra .

    Is that cruel ? While struggling middle class pays thousands on healthcare the poor can’t pay a few hundred ??? Really ? Is it cruel to ask people to maintain healthy lives ?

    What’s more I was told by yonasonw that its sedom s middos . Really ? Firstly people have to open their gemaras again . Sedom was about not fargining when it’s for free . Like if I have a bench outside my house but others can’t sit on it . However, they fail to see that healthcare is not free . It’s a cost . Someone has to pay for it . And the middle class are struggling to compensate the popes health care via taxes and higher healthcare costs . That’s not sedom . But in the age of fake news and news spinners it’s no suprise to use that homely. But is it really sedom to ask the poor to take some minimal responsibility ?

    This is he crux of the problem for this congressman too . No the poor is not entitled to have everything for free

    TruthIsIt
    TruthIsIt
    6 years ago

    The truth is he got another job and this was an easy way out for him…