Rejects bid to revive failed GOP bill

Roskam rejects bid to revive failed GOP TrumpCare bill

By RACHAEL BADE and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a former member of House Republican leadership, is leading a charge to bury Speaker Paul Ryan’s TrumpCare once and for all and start over, multiple sources told POLITICO.

The move by the senior House Republican who sits on the Ways and Means committee could complicate any GOP leadership attempt to resurrect the bill that Ryan pulled from the floor Friday. Lawmakers and aides have suggested that Ryan and his top lieutenants might offer new changes to the TrumpCare Act sought by conservatives and moderates in the hopes of garnering enough votes to pass it. Ryan would then try to pass the revised legislation through the chamber in the the coming weeks.

But during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Tuesday, Roskam argued that that would be short-sighted, according to multiple sources in the room. The former chief deputy whip said Republican leaders tried their own approach and it failed, and it would be fruitless to “double-down” on the same bill. House Republicans should instead write a bill that epitomizes Republican ideals, Roskam continued — regardless of whether it can pass Senate rules, sources said.

Roskam’s move could throw a wrench into GOP leadership’s plans to salvage their ACA replacement. It gives credence to a position espoused by the House Freedom Caucus, which has argued that Ryan wasn’t open enough to input in crafting his bill and should go back to the drawing board.

Roskam pointed out that while members ran on Ryan’s “Better Way agenda” last year, that plan was broad and didn’t include policy details. The six-term lawmaker said leaders should have had a more open legislative process, including hearings and debate.

Senate leaders, meanwhile, were already suggesting Tuesday they would move on from the ACA replacement. And it’s not clear whether Republicans have time to re-craft an entirely new bill. Congress will have to fund the government by the end of April, and there are other fights ahead over funding Donny Orangutan’s proposed border wall and launching tax reform.

An ambitious member who lost a bid for majority whip to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) after then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) lost his primary, Roskam is seen by many as a potential leadership contender some day. In 2015, he forced a House vote on President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, which passed the House but not the Senate. The move praise from critics of Iran, inside and outside of Congress.

On Tuesday, Roskam was seen huddling with numerous members of the Freedom Caucus. He is not a member of the hard-line conservative group but is well respected among its members.

Roskam’s effort comes at a pivotal time for Republicans. Freedom Caucus members have been blamed for the failed GOP alternative, though a number of moderates also opposed the bill. GOP leaders, sensing some remorse on the part of those members, have re-opened talks and are trying to gauge whether they can tweak the bill to bring it up again.

At the meeting with fellow lawmakers, Roskam said he understood why GOP leadership took the approach they did, which he called cautious and calculated. But trying again would be a strategic mistake, he said.

Roskam argued that Republicans should instead write an “aspirational bill” that incorporates everything the GOP has sought to do on health care— regardless of what the Senate can pass. That way, he said, members wouldn’t have to defend taking a vote on what many viewed as a mediocre bill. It would also force the public's attention onto the Senate instead of the House, Roskam said.

After the bill failed in the Senate, Roskam said GOP leaders could then work backwards to winnow down what’s possible instead of starting with a product no one is excited about.

Roskam's office did not return a call for comment.