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Elected officials react to scrapped health care bill

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.
File photo
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Republicans on Friday pulled the bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act, with House Speaker Paul Ryan saying, “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.”

Elected officials representing the region and state had this to say about the scrapped effort:

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer:

“Ultimately, the TrumpCare bill failed because of two traits that have plagued the Trump presidency since he took office: incompetence and broken promises. In my life, I have never seen an administration as incompetent as the one occupying the White House today.

“They can’t write policy that actually makes sense, they can’t implement the policies they do manage to write, they can’t get their stories straight, and today we’ve learned that they can’t close a deal, and they can’t count votes.

“So much for the Art of the Deal.

“I also have never seen a President break as many promises to working people as this President has done in just over two months. President Trump said we’re going to have health insurance for everyone that’s going to cost less. TrumpCare would have done exactly the opposite. This bill would have been a boon for the wealthy, providing a huge tax cut for Americans making over $250,000, while causing premiums to rise by more than $12,000 for lower income seniors.

“Today should be the last day the cloud of TrumpCare hangs over the American people.”

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York state
File photo
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

“The only way anything ever happens in Washington is when regular people stand up and speak out – and that’s exactly what happened with this awful bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“After so many New Yorkers and people across America raised their voices in opposition to this bill, the House of Representatives backed down today from a plan that would have taken away health care from an estimated 24 million Americans, would have brought us back to the days when insurance companies could refuse to cover maternity care, and would have made health care much more expensive for families and seniors – all while giving huge tax breaks to insurance companies and drug companies.

“We should continue to work to improve our health care system, but this was a bad bill, and I'm glad it was stopped.”

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport:

Credit louise.house.gov
Rep. Louise Slaughter

“It turns out that the president who wrote the book on deal making couldn’t close this deal. This decision is a win for the American people, who would have been devastated by this bill. Twenty-four million people would have been pushed off their health insurance, families would have had to pay higher premiums and deductibles, and those aged 50 to 64 would have faced a crushing age tax, paying five times more for premiums. This legislation would have also killed the requirement for insurance companies to offer Essential Health Benefits, including emergency services, maternity care, and prescription drugs. All the while, it would steal from Medicare, shorten the life of the Medicare Trust Fund and ransack the funds that seniors depend on for care.

"House Republicans tried to jam this bill through the House without holding a single hearing, without waiting for a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis, and by bringing this bill to the floor just hours after releasing the final text late last night. A bad process begets a bad product – and both this process and this product could not have been worse. This bill deserves not only to be pulled from the floor today - it should be scrapped once and for all.” 

Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning: 

The Southern Tier Congressman was interviewed by NPR's Scott Simon on Saturday's Weekend Edition:

Rep. Tom Reed
Credit Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning)
Rep. Tom Reed