Conservatives Get Their Shot to Change the Republican Health-Care Bill
With Speaker Paul Ryan throwing his plan open to amendment, the House Freedom Caucus is drafting a proposal to push it further to the right—jeopardizing its support among moderates.
The American Health Care Act has now passed through three committees on its way to a vote on the House floor. So far, the Republican leadership’s replacement for Obamacare has emerged unscathed, and unchanged.
It is not likely to stay that way much longer.
Conservatives say they have the votes to defeat the measure, and they plan to introduce an amendment that would push it significantly to the right, likely by ending the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion earlier than 2020 and by allowing states to institute work requirements for recipients.
Their bid to change the bill will force Speaker Paul Ryan to make a critical decision: Accept a significant amendment
