Craig Gilbert

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday he envisions an extended transition from Obamacare that ensures “no one is worse off” after Congress votes to repeal the program.

The speaker declined to say how long it would take Republicans to design a replacement so that the millions of people now covered by the Affordable Care Act can be transitioned off it.

“It will clearly take time. It took them about six years to stand up Obamacare. It’s not going to be replaced come next football season,” Ryan said in an interview Monday with the Journal Sentinel.

Ryan said there will be an early repeal vote next year, but after that, “clearly there will be a transition and a bridge so that no one is left out in the cold, so that no one is worse off. The purpose here is to bring relief to people who are suffering from Obamacare so that they can get something better.”

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Some Republicans have suggested it would take years to perform the complex process of phasing out and replacing the health care law.

Critics and some analysts have predicted that a GOP strategy of quickly voting to repeal the program but delaying its effective end date would create chaos and disruption for the people currently in it.

Ryan rejected that, saying “Obamacare is failing and failing quickly,” and “there is nowhere to go but up with respect to Obamacare.”

Ryan also addressed other issues in the interview:

Medicare

No decisions have been made on Republican plans for a Medicare overhaul, he said.

“We haven’t addressed that. That’s an unresolved issue. I haven’t even spoke with the president-elect about that,” said Ryan.

Ryan has long advocated huge changes to Medicare for people 55 and under, converting the entitlement program into a system where beneficiaries use government subsidies to help them buy private health insurance.

“We have a future of insolvency with Medicare that needs to be addressed. How and when we address that is something we will decide later,” said Ryan.

President-elect Donald Trump has expressed resistance to big entitlement changes. The speaker said, “I have no doubt that he wants to save Medicare for future seniors.”

Punishing firms that move jobs overseas

Asked whether he had any concerns about Trump’s recent threats of retribution and tariffs against U.S. companies moving production to other countries, Ryan declined to comment directly.

“We can get at what he’s talking about through smart tax reform. What his concern is, is legitimate — American companies are moving overseas, are shifting headquarters and factories overseas,” said Ryan, who blamed “our terrible tax code” for much of that.

Asked specifically about Trump’s talk of tariffs and penalties, Ryan indicated he supported a different approach.

“Like I said, I think we can get at the goal here, which is to keep American businesses American, build things in America and sell them overseas — that can be properly addressed with comprehensive tax reform.”

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Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud

In an interview on 60 Minutes Sunday, Ryan was asked about the president-elect’s baseless claim on Twitter that he would have won the national popular vote if it weren’t for the “millions of people who voted illegally.”

Ryan declined on 60 Minutes to either endorse or repudiate Trump’s claim, saying, “I have no knowledge of such things … it doesn’t matter to me.”

Asked in Monday’s interview about the impact of Trump’s claims of voter fraud on the public’s faith in elections, Ryan said, “I’m not going to spend my time commenting on the latest tweets. I can’t back up that claim. I’m not focused on it. He won the election. I’m focused on getting things done.”

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Checks and balances

Ryan said he is convinced based on lengthy conversations with the president-elect that Trump agrees with the view of Republicans in Congress that “Obama overreached dramatically with executive power and we want to restore the separation of powers.”

Asked whether he expects Trump to take a less expansive view of executive power than President Obama, Ryan said, “I do.”

Ryan suggested that critics who fear an “authoritarian” Trump presidency are reacting to his “effective use of the bully pulpit” and overlooking his shared concern with GOP lawmakers over “Obama’s abuse of executive privilege and power.”