GOP’s Plan B for Obamacare -- repeal first, replace later -- began with quiet push from Koch network
Sen. Ben Sasse talks on his phone outside the Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill. President Trump’s surprise suggestion Friday that deadlocked Senate Republicans shift their focus to simply repealing Obamacare — and worry about replacing it later — has its roots in a Koch network proposal that has been shopped around Congress for months. McConnell said as much last week, warning senators he would have no choice but to reach out to Democrats for a bipartisan deal that would likely “include none of the reforms we would like to make.” Getting the healthcare issue off the agenda would also free up time for the other main Republican priority — tax reform — which has stalled amid the Senate’s logjam, and is also a Koch network priority. “While we are continuing to work with the Senate to help improve their current legislation, the two-step repeal and reform approach that Senators Paul and Sasse have proposed would put Congress and the administration in the position to keep their promise and deliver that relief,” said Nathan Nascimento, a vice president at the Koch-backed Freedom Partners chamber of commerce, in a statement. “The best way to provide relief to Americans suffering under Obamacare has always been to fully repeal Obamacare and work together to fix our broken health care system.” It wouldn’t be the first time the Koch network has provided a legislative road map to Republicans in Congress in the Trump administration.
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