QUESTION #1: Was the failed repeal of Obamacare a good or bad thing, and were the actions of the Freedom Caucus helpful or harmful?
Answer:
Twila Brase:
“We are better off. I know that a lot of people thought that this was a repeal bill, but it really didn’t repeal Obamacare. It took facets of Obamacare, and renamed them. It gave the Republican version of subsidies, and mandates, and penalties. It did some good things. It repealed most of the Obamacare, taxes, and it expanded the amount of money that you could put in a health savings account. But really at the end of the day, Americans would have been very disappointed. Americans who thought that they were actually considering a bill to repeal Obamacare would have found out that that was not the case at all…
I know for a fact, at least, I should say for a fact, as reported by Politico, who tries to be at least somewhat accurate, that the Freedom Caucus was very concerned about what was being written by Speaker Ryan and whomever he was working with. They were not part of this bill. The Freedom Caucus is about three dozen members who are considered the most conservative, and even in there, some people say, “Well, they’re not all really conservative…”
But here they are, 36 members, and they got together a few days before the bill was released, and they made a pact with each other to not tell anyone in leadership whether they were for or against whatever the bill was. As a result of doing that, they couldn’t be peeled off by Trump or by Ryan to agree to the bill. So they really held a strong position, and they wanted to see what it was before anybody let it happen. They really wanted a repeal, and this was not a repeal.”
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