Cotton, Lee opposed to House healthcare bill despite changes

Cotton said in a statement that he “cannot” support the bill as is, and predicted that it wouldn’t pass the Senate in its current form. He also argued that House Republicans should not rush to pass the bill. His announcement comes after the “manager’s amendment” was released Monday night and includes changes to the Medicaid phase-out and the faster elimination of taxes under Obamacare.

“Despite the proposed amendments, I still cannot support the House health-care bill, nor would it pass the Senate,” Cotton said. “The amendments improve the Medicaid reforms in the original bill, but do little to address the core problem of Obamacare: rising premiums and deductibles, which are making insurance unaffordable for too many Arkansans.”

“The House should continue its work on this bill. It’s more important to finally get health-care reform right than to get it fast,” Cotton said.

Cotton has been an outspoken critic of the bill. Last week, Cotton blasted Speaker Paul Ryan’s claim of a three-part process to achieve full healthcare reform and has called on House Republicans to “start over” altogether. But he also said the House bill is “fixable.”

Meanwhile, Lee tweeted out that he opposes the bill because it does not fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, which he promised his constituents he would fight for.

“I promised the people of Utah I would do everything I can to repeal #Obamacare. The House bill does not do that. I am a no. #FullRepeal,” Lee tweeted.

Despite the challenges facing House Republicans in their own chamber, those challenges could become even larger in the Senate as many Republicans have already come out against the AHCA, including Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Dean Heller, R-Nev.