Though the proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act cleared the House Ways and Means Committee pre-dawn today, Louisiana’s majority-Republican congressional delegation hasn’t exactly embraced the GOP proposal to replace President Barack Obama’s health care law.
As The Associated Press reports, most members of Louisiana’s delegation have offered a cautious, noncommittal response. Only Rep. Steve Scalise, the third-ranking House Republican and a member of the leadership team pushing the replacement plan, has given a full-throated endorsement to the legislation. On Wednesday, he described as a plan to “put patients back in charge of their health care decisions.”
Other Louisiana Republicans in Congress are more reticent, saying they’re studying the bill.
Both of Louisiana’s U.S. senators, Republicans Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, say they’re still digging into details of the proposal, which major health care groups oppose.
Cassidy spokesman John Cummins says the senator, a doctor who offered an alternative health law replacement proposal, was waiting for Congressional Budget Office estimates of how many people would be covered under the House GOP plan and what it would cost.
Louisiana’s lone Democrat in the congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans, along with other members of his party, supports Obama’s health overhaul and doesn’t want it uprooted. A representative for Republican Rep. Garret Graves didn’t respond Wednesday to inquiries about the congressman’s thoughts on the bill.
Rep. Ralph Abraham, a Republican doctor who represents northeast and central Louisiana, says Congress is “on the right road,” but he stopped short of backing the legislation, citing lingering questions.
“Obamacare has failed and must be repealed. This bill seeks to do that, but many of my colleagues have raised significant questions that I agree this Congress must have the courage to address as we move forward,” Abraham says in a statement.
The Associated Press has the full story.
