Ryan reverses course, will continue Obamacare 'repeal and replace' effort

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — In the wake of the defeat of the GOP overhaul of Affordable Care Act, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Obamacare was the “law of the land…for the foreseeable future” and that health care would be set aside as Republicans work towards tax reform this fall.

But Ryan — who called his legislation, the American Health Care Act, “fundamentally flawed” — told donors Monday that the effort to roll back the ACA is not over yet.

“We are going to keep getting at this thing,” Ryan said, according to a recording obtained by the Washington Post. “We’re not going to just all of a sudden abandon health care and move on to the rest. We are going to move on with rest of our agenda, keep that on track, while we work the health care problem.”

Ryan’s comments are a reversal from his position on Friday, when he declared Obamacare “the law of the land.”

“We still have a promise to keep, so the speaker wants members to continue discussing this issue until we can find a path ahead,” Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, explained in an email, confirming the intent behind the quotes reported by the Post.

The Post also reported that Ryan suggested that a plan was being developed in time to brief the donors at a retreat scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Florida.

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on email
Email
Share on print
Print