Republican Sen. Ron Johnson slams Senate GOP Obamacare repeal legislation

WASHINGTON – In a series of interviews and an op-ed Monday, Senate Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin bluntly laid out his objections to the GOP Senate health care bill and to his party’s hurried push to get it passed this week.

In a New York Times op-ed, Johnson offered a sweeping, conservative critique of the measure, saying it’s “throwing money at the problem” and “doesn’t appear to come close" to delivering "better, less expensive care" for working people, 

The Wisconsin Republican slammed the bill drafted by GOP Senate leaders for retaining some Obamacare mandates, such as the rule requiring insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions — a rule Johnson blames for driving up premiums.

But while Johnson's policy objections align him with the bill's most conservative critics, his procedural complaints — that a massively consequential bill is being rushed and rammed through through the Senate — align him with many moderates and liberals. 

Johnson on Monday stood by his opposition to his party's attempt to get the bill passed this week, holding out the possibility he would vote against a move to bring the measure to the floor, known as a "motion to proceed."

In an interview with the Journal Sentinel he called the position of GOP Senate leaders that the vote must happen this week "absurd."

"I don't buy that at all. It's just a false argument," he said, speaking shortly before the Congressional Budget Office released its much-anticipated analysis of the bill.

GOP leaders will "take a vote on a motion to proceed at their own peril," Johnson said.   

Asked about the prospect of being blamed within his party for opposing a GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, Johnson said, "I am not going to be bullied or pressured by anybody.” He said he has gotten "nothing but positive feedback" back home for calling for a more deliberate process.  

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Johnson said he spoke for about a half-hour Sunday with President Donald Trump about his concerns. He said the president seemed receptive but "the proof will be in the pudding."

In the Journal Sentinel interview, Johnson repeated his call to delay the vote to give people inside and outside Washington more time to digest the bill, saying that would also give him more time to "make my case to the White House" about the changes he wants to see.

He said he agreed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that "failure is not an option. So don’t set yourself up to fail. Give it some (more) time." 

In an earlier interview Monday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Johnson said, "leadership wants to jam this through,” which he found "a little offensive." He also said that input from him and other conservatives was largely ignored by party leaders in the Senate during the drafting stage.

The Wisconsin senator surprised many Republicans in Washington last week when he joined three other GOP conservatives in withholding their support from the bill drafted by party leadership that aims to repeal and replace Obamacare, slash taxes and fundamentally roll back the Medicaid entitlement.

With a majority of 52, Senate Republicans can afford to lose only two of their members on this issue, and the objections are coming from both sides of the GOP caucus. Several moderates are balking at the rollbacks in coverage in the bill, meaning concessions to one Republican faction threatens the support of the other.

Johnson was elected to the Senate in 2010 campaigning fiercely against Obamacare, and his feelings run deep on the issue.

In recent days, he has defended the bill’s Medicaid rollbacks against criticism from Democrats but has complained the bill doesn’t go far enough in a conservative direction in dismantling Obamacare rules and mandates.

He told Hewitt Monday it was “wimpy reform.”

While Democrats and many health care groups have assailed the bill as too harsh, Johnson said it spends too much. 

“Like Obamacare, it relies too heavily on government spending, and ignores the role that the private sector can and should play,” he wrote of the GOP legislation in the New York Times op-ed.

“The bill’s defenders will say it repeals Obamacare’s taxes and reduces Medicaid spending growth. That’s true. But it also boosts spending on subsidies, and it leaves in place the pre-existing-condition rules that drive up the cost of insurance for everyone,” Johnson wrote. 

The GOP bill retains a feature of Obamacare — “guaranteed issue” — that is aimed at guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Johnson argues that this and other mandates artificially drive up the cost of policies and that a better solution is to provide state-based high-risk pools for those with costly pre-existing conditions.

But eliminating “guaranteed issue” would make the bill that much more unattractive to GOP moderates who already think the legislation goes too far in reducing coverage.

Johnson has emphatically not ruled out supporting the bill in the end, and will be under considerable pressure from conservatives and Republicans to provide a “yes” vote this week. 

Radio host Hewitt lobbied him hard Monday morning on this, saying a failure to repeal and replace Obamacare would infuriate the GOP base and cost the party control of Congress in the next two to four years.

“I beg you Ron Johnson, do not kill this bill,” Hewitt said.

“I do not want to kill the bill, I want to improve it,” said Johnson, who argued that delaying the vote would give the GOP more time to sell their proposals to voters.

“The Senate leadership doesn’t have the information to sell it to the American public. ... The House bill wasn’t sold at all," Johnson said, referring to a very similar measure that has proven very unpopular in the polls.

"That’s the wrong time to sell it, is after (it passes),” said Johnson. "Let's sell it up front."