Spicer scolds wary GOP over ‘free votes’ to repeal Obamacare

WASHINGTON — Shortly before Republican leaders postponed a vote on repealing and replacing Obamacare, the White House on Thursday scolded Republicans who took “free votes” to roll back the law while President Barack Obama was in office, but who now balk at supporting President Trump’s health care plan.

“You’ve taken a bunch of these free votes when it didn’t matter, because you didn’t have a Republican president. And you got to vote for repeal and go back and tell your constituents something like 50 times,” press secretary Sean Spicer said.

“Well, this is a live ball now, and this is for real, and we’re going to do what we pledged to the American people — and keep our word,” Spicer told reporters at his daily briefing. Congressional Republicans, he said, “have an obligation to fulfill the promise and the pledge that they made to the American people.”

Spicer made those remarks as Trump, his top aides and Republican House leaders worked feverishly to corral enough votes to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the GOP plan to roll back key provisions of Obamacare. The House was initially scheduled to take up the measure late Thursday, although Republican leaders decided to postpone it. It could come as early as Friday.

A Republican House leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Yahoo News that there would be “no vote tonight,” adding: “Don’t know when it’ll happen.”

Ever since Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, came in force seven years ago, Republicans have put together various bills to repeal or replace it but have never found much political unity behind any one option.

In 2015, Republicans pushed a repeal bill to Obama’s desk, but have balked this year at doing the same thing. Republican governors and senators from states where the ACA has expanded access to health coverage could pay a stiff political price for a pure repeal bill, or for backing legislation that, like the AHCA, would cause millions to go without insurance coverage.

That was not a concern when the GOP could count on Obama to veto legislation — Republicans could please GOP voters who wanted them to vote for repeal, without facing the potential political costs of having coverage taken away .

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