GOP tensions rise over Cruz proposal
By Alexander Bolton - 07/06/17 06:00 AM EDT Tensions between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his old antagonist, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have reappeared in the high-stakes negotiation over healthcare reform.
Cruz is insisting on a reform to the Senate GOP bill that senior GOP aides say is a nonstarter with much — if not most — of the Republican conference.
While Cruz sought out Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to play what he promised would be a constructive role in the debate, senior GOP aides say Cruz is no longer being agreeable.
Instead, he is again being a thorn in McConnell’s side, much like he was in 2013, when he insisted on blocking a government spending bill unless it included language halting the implementation of ObamaCare, the staffers argue. Two years ago, Cruz famously called McConnell a liar on the Senate floor amid a debate on the Export-Import Bank.
GOP aides say the proposal that Cruz and his allies are framing as the potential key to passing the stalled healthcare bill is a nonstarter with most Republicans in the upper chamber.
The proposal would allow insurance companies the freedom to sell any kinds of health plans they want as long as they also sell at least one plan that qualifies under the regulatory requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“I would say that if we voted on the Cruz proposal, it would be in the neighborhood of 37 to 15 against, 37 no votes and 15 yeses, and that’s probably generous,” said a GOP aide familiar with the Senate negotiations.
“Nobody wants to go home and say to a 45-year-old steelworker with diabetes that you should have to pay a lot more for your health insurance,” the aide added.
Frustrations are mounting with Cruz among Senate negotiators because leaders have felt blindsided by his demand that the legislation essentially eliminate the protection for people with pre-existing conditions.
When McConnell told GOP colleagues at a presentation this spring that the bill would not touch pre-existing conditions, Cruz did not specifically object.
“What he would say is we need to go after all insurance rules, as many as we can,” said a Republican source familiar with the meeting.
A conservative Republican aide acknowledged that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was more outspoken in his objection to the refusal by leaders to touch pre-existing conditions, while Cruz’s position was left murky.
GOP leaders thought Cruz would be on board if the legislation tackled other regulations, such as rules for what services insurers must provide as essential health benefits, which the public Senate bill addresses. Cruz’s insistence, according to GOP aides, in recent weeks that the Senate bill scrap the regulations governing pre-existing conditions is a shift that has made their job more difficult.
These claims are getting strong pushback from Cruz defenders.
Aides siding with the Texas Republican say he made it clear to leaders from the start that the Senate bill should give people the freedom to buy cheaper health plans that are exempt from federal regulation.
“From day one of the Senate discussions, in a working group that Sen. Cruz started with Chairman Alexander, consumer freedom has been one of Cruz’s major points. The idea that this is sprouting at the last minute is inaccurate,” said a senior conservative Republican aide.
The Hill reported Monday that Senate GOP leaders have sent two versions of a revised healthcare bill to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), one with the Cruz amendment and one without it.
Republican aides who say Cruz’s amendment is politically untenable acknowledge that the CBO could report some good news, like that the proposal would send down premiums without significantly affecting coverage.
But they think it’s more likely that the CBO analysis will be damning.
“Or CBO will come back and say the market will be destroyed and 45 million people will be left without insurance,” said one staffer.
Conservatives close to Cruz admit the CBO score will be better for the revised bill that does not include Cruz’s amendment because that version includes a market stabilization fund without including any of the regulatory reforms that would destabilize — at least temporarily — the market.
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http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/340765-gop-tensions-rise-over-cruz-proposal