Health Bill’s Failure Leaves Supporters in a Political Jam Back Home

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/us/trump-supporters-gop-health-bill.html

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They went to unusual, even dangerous lengths to support President Trump’s unpopular health care bill, facing down protesters at home and begging for special accommodation from House leaders in Washington. John Faso of New York negotiated a side deal for his state in exchange for backing it. Mike Coffman was the lone Colorado lawmaker to endorse the bill, while his Republican neighbors agonized and stalled.

But with the collapse of the legislation on Friday, such Republican representatives now have nothing to show for their trouble. They ventured far out on a political limb, only to watch it disintegrate behind them. And when they run for re-election next year, they may have to defend their support for a politically explosive bill that many Republicans backed only reluctantly, and that never came close to reaching the president’s desk.

The fiasco in Washington is already rippling at home: Back in their districts, there are early signs of backlash against these lawmakers, including from constituents who voted Republican last November.

Many voters’ complaints echo the criticism they leveled against the passage of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare: that it was passed too quickly, with too many back-room deals and too much potential to destabilize the insurance system.

At the Kings Valley Diner in Mr. Faso’s district, stretching across the Catskills and north past Albany, the congressman won some harsh reviews. He had at first hesitated over the health care proposal, which the Congressional Budget Office projected would lead to 24 million fewer people having health insurance over a decade. But Republican leaders pursuing Mr. Faso shifted the cost of Medicaid programs away from upstate counties like the ones he represents, and he backed the bill days before it fell apart.

“Faso played that whole thing like an idiot, to be frank,” said Jim Palmatier, 62. “He tried to be a little too clever, and he just ended up looking like a fool. There’s no way I’m voting for him next time around.”

Eating breakfast with his teenage grandson, Mr. Palmatier, who described himself as a conservative, said he wanted to see the Affordable Care Act repealed but had been disappointed with the Republicans’ replacement.

“They tried to get it through so quickly, they barely had time to explain the thing,” he said.

In Representative Adam Kinzinger’s district, a more solidly Republican seat in a largely rural area outside Chicago, even conservative voters voiced unease with Mr. Kinzinger and his party’s sputtering approach to health care. Bill Chivers, 64, a teacher in Onarga, Ill., who said he leaned Republican, questioned whether lawmakers even understood the bill: “Nobody knew what it was. Not even Congress — they don’t even know what it means.”

Anthony McIntyre, 55, who was grilling pork burgers for a fund-raising drive outside the Hometown Family Foods store in Gilman, Ill., said he was relieved that the bill had failed. Mr. McIntyre, who has health coverage through his job in roofing, said he feared that the bill would have led to higher insurance rates.

“They can write it better,” said Mr. McIntyre, who said he regularly voted Republican. “They have to do a better job with it.”

Told that Mr. Kinzinger supported the bill, he was not pleased.

“Oh no, he can’t do that,” Mr. McIntyre said. “Congressman Kinzinger — I might not want to vote for him again.”

In an interview on Saturday, Mr. Kinzinger, 39, said he understood that many voters were concerned about change to the health care system, and suggested that Republicans should now try to work with Democrats on more incremental changes instead of pushing for wholesale repeal.

“Anytime you do something like this, it’s unpopular at first,” he said. “People may dislike the health law in its current form, but they always get nervous for change.”

Mr. Faso, 64, said he did not regret supporting the House health care bill, calling it merely a “partial solution” to a difficult policy problem. He said he had heard from constituents supportive of unwinding the Affordable Care Act, but had also been confronted by anti-repeal protesters as recently as Saturday morning, at an event in New Lebanon.

“I would say that my constituency is pretty divided on this whole question,” Mr. Faso said in an interview. “A lot of people want to see the A.C.A. or a single-payer system and just as many people, in my view, want to see us get rid of the A.C.A. I’m trying to listen to both sides.”

It is not only supporters of the now-abandoned bill, known as the American Health Care Act, who may face censure from voters. Dozens of Republican lawmakers opposed the measure after campaigning for years on a pledge to undo President Barack Obama’s signature achievement. Mr. Trump suggested repeatedly that he might seek to punish Republicans who failed to support the proposal, raising the possibility of primary battles next year.

But it was Democrats who moved fastest to exploit the Republican health care debacle: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced on Saturday that it was running online advertisements against more than a dozen Republicans, including Mr. Faso, who voted for versions of the health care bill when it was being drafted in congressional committees.

Democratic strategists said their private polling found the Trump-backed health care bill to be extremely unpopular, a finding mirrored in public opinion surveys. A Quinnipiac University poll published this past week found that just 17 percent of voters approved of the legislation, compared with 56 percent who disapproved. Three in five independent voters said they were against it.

The Democratic campaign committee said it would even go after Republicans who never endorsed the final version of the bill, if they voted for it in earlier drafts, like Representatives Carlos Curbelo of Florida and Leonard Lance of New Jersey.

The squeeze facing Republicans was evident in Mr. Curbelo’s district, where even voters critical of Obamacare were divided over the Republican strategy for replacing it. Sara Reig, 71, who said she was familiar with the main particulars of the bill, said the party should have been more patient and taken the time to craft a stronger piece of legislation. “What’s the rush?” she asked.

“Better to fix it right and make it clear and really let us know what is in there,” Ms. Reig added. “They want to support the president, which I agree with, but it has to be done right.”

National Republicans, still reeling from their unexpected defeat, expressed hope that health care might fade as an issue before the congressional elections in 2018. With more than a year and a half until voters next pass judgment on the Republican-controlled Congress, party leaders say they have plenty of time to record victories on issues like a tax code overhaul and infrastructure spending. Mr. Trump and Speaker Paul D. Ryan indicated on Friday that they did not intend to revisit health care in the near future.

But Republican strategists also acknowledged that they would probably have to give extra help to vulnerable members of Congress who supported the health care bill. Corry Bliss, the chief strategist for the Congressional Leadership Fund, a “super PAC” backed by Mr. Ryan, said the group would go out of its way to protect lawmakers who backed the bill. “We are committed to helping advance the legislative agenda of House leadership,” Mr. Bliss said on Saturday. “Of course we are going to give preferential treatment to friends and allies.”

By contrast, Mr. Bliss noted that the group had cut off funding to Representative David Young of Iowa, a Republican who opposed the health care bill.

It is unclear whether voters’ anger over health care will be enough to give Democrats a chance at winning a majority in the House next year. Republicans control the chamber by a sizable margin, and the congressional maps in many states were drawn to protect G.O.P. incumbents.

And some voters appeared willing to give their member of Congress a pass on the messy health care process. In Mr. Coffman’s district, anchored in the Denver suburbs, George Markline, 52, said he did not care for the Republican bill, pointing out that it would lead to higher premiums for people who lose their coverage.

Yet Mr. Markline, a Republican, said he believed Obamacare needed some changes and gave Mr. Coffman credit for trying.

“I like the fact that he’s standing up for a change that needs to be done, even though it may not have been fixing everything, as it needs to be,” said Mr. Markline, who works logistics at a warehouse.

But other voters who once eagerly supported Republican opponents of Obamacare said the last few weeks had given them second thoughts.

In Kingston, N.Y., on the eastern edge of Mr. Faso’s district, Sal Traficante, the owner of a small construction business, said he had begun to question his support for Republicans.

Mr. Traficante, 57, said he wanted the Affordable Care Act to be modified, but was dismayed at the thought of tens of millions of people losing health care coverage. “Those are working people who need the coverage,” he said.

Mr. Traficante said he was disappointed by the Republicans: “I liked the idea of repealing Obamacare, but I thought the Republicans would actually have a plan.”