House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) attempts to keep order with ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) during a markup hearing on the proposed American Health Care Act on Wednesday. | Getty Democrats thwart progress on Obamacare repeal Lawmakers bickered about everything from the merits of striking the ACA to how much time members should get to make opening statements.

House Democrats on Wednesday fought to stall an Obamacare repeal bill that Republicans, still facing deep intraparty divisions over the measure, are trying to push toward the House floor and eventually the White House.

The first public debates over the bill were a mirror image of the bitter 2009 debate over the passage of Obamacare, with accusations about a lack of transparency and the majority party rushing things through. But this time, it was Democrats leveling the charges.


Democrats on Wednesday forced meaningless votes on the House floor and in two House committees and even required committee clerks to read the entire text of the bill out loud at one point — all in an effort to stop Republicans from fulfilling their campaign pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act. One Democratic amendment proposed changing the bill's name from the American Health Care Act to the "Republican Pay More For Less Care Act."

Debates that began at 10:30 a.m. showed no sign of stopping — or even getting underway, really — as the sun set on Wednesday. Democrats threatened to offer hundreds of amendments while Republicans vowed to keep the markup sessions in the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees open until the bill is approved. At one point, lawmakers floated the idea of working through the weekend.

In reality, the markups may prove to be the least suspenseful part of the bill's journey to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Republicans leaders say they have the votes to get the legislation out of committee. Beyond that, however, Republicans are deeply divided over the repeal bill. Conservatives deride it as “Obamacare Lite” while moderates want to do more to protect low-income people and others from losing coverage. And much of the health care industry – including all of the major hospital and physician trade groups — have lined up against the bill. The health insurance industry trade organization, America’s Health Insurance Plans, also cited major concerns, saying that the bill would destabilize the individual market.

The bill would shrink and revamp Obamacare’s tax credits, gut the individual mandate, roll back the Medicaid expansion and inject more free market-oriented features into the health system.

Democrats on Wednesday tried to flip many of the Republican criticisms of Obamacare back on the GOP: They accused Republicans of jamming through a bill without enough debate and in a hyper-partisan fashion. They also chastised the GOP for starting debate without official estimates detailing the cost of the bill and how many people it would cover. Republicans say the projections will be available by next week.

“I’m disappointed in this process,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) as the Energy and Commerce session began. “It hasn’t been transparent. … It’s rushed. Members are squeezed in terms of their comments. This is a lousy process, in plain English.”

Democrats started refining other arguments, saying the legislation would raise premiums for seniors and the poor while providing a tax cut for the wealthy and for insurance executives.

Democrats in the Ways and Means Committee unsuccessfully offered several amendments that were identical to those offered by Republicans against the ACA in 2009, such as legislation to ensure there is no tax hike for people making less than $250,000 and to ensure that the final bill text would be available for 72 hours before a vote.

GOP Rep. Steve Scalise attends a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup meeting for the new health care law on Wednesday. | Getty

Democrats plan to bring forward dozens more amendments to put political pressure on Republicans, for instance underscoring Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions and campaign pledges Trump made, such as providing coverage for “everyone.”

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) argued that the legislation hasn't been properly vetted by Congress or the public and ripped into Republicans for keeping it “as secret as Donald Trump’s tax returns.”

“What this bill needs is extreme vetting — frankly any vetting at all would be an improvement," he said.

Republicans are girding for a sustained fight.

“This bill — as Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price wrote to us yesterday — ‘aligns with the President’s goal of rescuing Americans from the failures of the Affordable Care Act,’” Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said.

Republicans defended the process, arguing that Trump was elected on a mandate to repeal the health care law and that the GOP held dozens of repeal votes and hearings that led to the bill before lawmakers now.

“We’re on a rescue mission,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). “Obamacare, though well-intentioned, has failed.”

The White House is beginning to play a more active role in the arm-twisting. Trump is slated to travel on Saturday to Kentucky, which is home to one of the most successful state-run Obamacare exchanges and Sen. Rand Paul, the most prominent Republican opponent of the bill.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has pledged that the GOP will have the votes to pass the bill when it comes to the floor, likely in two or three weeks.

“We’re going through the inevitable growing pains of being an opposition party to becoming a governing party,” Ryan told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning, referring to the transition from a Democratic White House to a Republican one. “And in being an opposition party, we had divided government.”

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Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway guaranteed on Wednesday that the legislation will pass both houses of Congress and be signed into law.

Asked on Fox News if she was willing to match Ryan’s guarantee, Conway said she would readily do so. “The president is confident that the American Health Care Act will pass the House and the Senate and will become the law.”

Meanwhile, a third House panel on Wednesday advanced along party lines three health care bills separate from the GOP’s Obamacare repeal effort, but the health care law was front and center during the debate at the House Education and Workforce Committee.

“It’s impossible to have a serious health care discussion in this committee while two other committees are simultaneously repealing the ACA,” said Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the committee's top Democrat. “We are considering three bills that in no way build on the progress of the ACA or are any part of any comprehensive replacement.”

Brianna Ehley contributed to this report.