Congressman Lou Barletta (R-Luzerne) came out against President Trump’s healthcare reform bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), on Tuesday night. Now, after meeting with Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Barletta says he will vote for the bill.
Barletta, a longtime Trump supporter, met with the two last night. He said he secured their support to introduce changes to the AHCA that will block healthcare tax credits to people who cannot prove they are lawfully in the country.
“The president gave his full support to legislation I will introduce to deny health care tax credits to illegal immigrants, and the speaker promised to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote. Because my concerns were met, I will vote for the bill with the understanding that my bill will receive full consideration on the House floor next month,” Barletta said in a statement after the meeting.
A Barletta ‘no’ vote on the bill could have caused a headache for the administration and Ryan. The final House vote is expected to be close.
As it is, AHCA supporters hardly could have scripted a better story than Barletta’s reversal.
The decision by Trump and Ryan to allow this change shows flexibility and could give the bill momentum. Barletta’s amendment itself will not change any major parts of the bill but may help build some bridges with conservatives in Congress who were on the fence.
Loading ...
16 Responses
Everything is about illegal immigrants with LOU!! Despicable
Of course, it’s called wealthcare, isn’t it?
I don’t understand why the same kind of documentation requirements can’t continue over from ACA into the new AHCA. Keeping something the same shouldn’t run foul of reconciliation in the Senate.
The problem with Barletta’s common sense fix is that it will probably pass the House, but it would need 60 votes in the Senate. And the way things are there, Schumer will have them vote in lockstep against it.
That will put the Dems firmly on record as supporting illegal aliens, which may be unpopular even in blue states, so maybe it’s a reasonable trade. Pay some healthcare for illegal aliens now, gain a couple more Senate seats in 2018.
“The president gave his full support to legislation I will introduce to deny health care tax credits to illegal immigrants, and the speaker promised to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote.”
That’s the pathetic excuse Barletta announced for changing his vote. But here’s a NEWS FLASH for Lou: Undocumented immigrants are already ineligible to purchase health insurance under the current ACA, which provides subsidies instead of tax credits. Now the only way Barletta’s proposed amendment makes sense is if the GOP bill makes the currently ineligible undocumented immigrants eligible to buy taxpayer subsidized insurance. Otherwise there is no sense in making them ineligible for tax credits to help them do so.
Are you planning on making undocumented immigrants eligible to buy taxpayer supported health insurance, Lou??? Frankly your long history as a xenophobic immigrant basher makes me skeptical.
What Barletta is doing is creating a cover story to mask his pitiful retreat in the face of Ryan/Trump pressure.And when his constituents wake up to ther fact that the plan Barletta noiw supports will put health insurance coverage out of their reach, he’ll find a way to blame undocumented immigrants for that.
He’s a one-trick pony, our Lou.
Denying a tax subsidy to people who are here illegally makes you a bigot and racist? I don’t understand that argument.
What a clown and what an embarrassment for PA and our 11th district. Lou is the sad and pathetic result of gerrymandering. Whether you’re for free markets and fiscal responsibility– or strong institutions and support for the less fortunate, Lou offers nothing but backwards bigotry and nonsense….. Of course that’s what Lou’s buddy, Putin’s American lackey, is all about too!!
More teeth than brains
What a poor representation of representation. You voted No until Trump agreed to give you something you want then you sell out the people for whom you were elected to represent. Even worse, you did it with a despicable smirk on your face on the national news. This is worse than criminal behavior and a poor excuse for a man.
Lou Barletta has always been a racist PoS. Why shouyld he change now?
So the legislative sausage making begins….I’ll vote for your bill, if you vote for mine. No matter that both are such putrid examples of crap that should never be considered for law.
Pussy…plain and simple, nuts as big as a tiny pimple.
What kind of excuse is this, LOU?
I’m asking you to vote NO to the GOP health care plan. It gives tax breaks to the rich and raises costs and decreases benefits for seniors and the poor. The middle class and poor need the tax breaks not the rich. Don’t fall for trump like so many stupid voters did!
Lou Barletta needs to get his head out of Trumps ass and listen to his people not what he thinks will give him a gold star from Trump. What happen to his thoughts that the bill was not good for the country. Trump must have given Lou a woody somehow.
America’s number one bigot ladies and gentlemen.
Ridiculous….