House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters “we’ll see” this morning when pressed on the Hill about whether Republicans will bring an Obamacare replacement to the floor next year.
At a caucus availability with the media, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cited a Gallup poll released yesterday finding that those who are most familiar with Obamacare are the most opposed to the law.
“So those who know about the law are more opposed to it than not,” McCarthy said. “So I think it goes to answer the question from the leader why you continue to hide things: The more America learns of this plan, the more they’re opposed to it. That’s why Republicans continue to fight to a patient-driven health care system, not a government-driven health care system.”
When pressed on what the patient-driven system the GOP would be fighting for, Boehner said, “When you look at Obamacare what you see is a government-centered health care delivery system. And that’s not what the American people want.”
“The American people want to be able to pick their own type of health insurance. They want to be able to pick their own doctor, they want to be able to pick their own hospital. That’s what a patient-centered health care system looks like,” he added.
Asked if that would be wrapped into a bill in 2014, Boehner replied, “We’ll see.”
Over the next couple of weeks, the Speaker said he wants to see the farm bill conference wrapped up.
“But we get the same problem when it comes to the budget conference. Chairman Ryan has done a very good job of outlining very serious offers, but we can’t get Senate Democrats to say yes,” Boehner said. “It is time for the other chamber to get serious by getting this work finished.”
Pressed on the charge that this year’s Congress is the least productive in history, he noted “when you look at the number of bills passed by the House and the paltry number of bills passed by the Senate, you can see where the problem is.”
“Listen, the House has done more than half the appropriation bills. The Senate has done none. All right?” Boehner continued.
“The House has done its work on the national defense authorization bill. We did it in June. Yet the Senate has failed to act. The way this system of government works, both the House and Senate have to do their jobs. The House continues to do its job. It’s time for the Senate to get serious about doing theirs.”
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