A top member of the House GOP whip team lashed out at Senate Republicans Wednesday for failing to advance legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare, saying that his colleagues have “failed the American people.”
“The Senate has failed the American people and abandoned voters who were promised that they would repeal and replace the disastrous Obamacare,” Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), a senior deputy House majority whip, said in a five-paragraph statement. “The House did its job. We honored our pledge and passed legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare in early May. There is no need to sugar coat this: I’m very upset with the Senate.”
He expressed frustration that the Senate has nothing to show for the past seven months of working to fulfill a nearly decade-long campaign promise, despite across-the-board GOP control of Congress and the White House.
“Senators have now wasted seven months doing nothing,” Ross said. “The American people are sick of the excuses from Senators. I’m sick of the excuses.”
{mosads}Most House Republicans have refrained from publicly castigating their Senate counterparts this week, insisting that passing a repeal-and-replace bill in their chamber back in May wasn’t easy either. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) advised members in a conference meeting on Tuesday to give their Senate colleagues some space.
Ross on Wednesday, however, pointedly sought to cast blame on the Senate for holding up the healthcare bill, saying repeatedly that the House GOP “did its job” and “has been upholding our end time-and-time again.” He urged the Senate — notably not all of Congress — to stay in Washington through August and beyond until they pass the bill “however long it takes.”
“If they don’t repeal and replace Obamacare, like they promised and were voted to do, they are going back on their word and have some serious explaining to do when they go back home and face those who sent them to Washington to protect and help them. They will be held accountable,” Ross said.
He warned that if the existing healthcare system falters, “the Senate will be taking the blame. Not the House, and not the President.”
By contrast, other House Republicans have been more measured in expressing disappointment with the Senate.
“Obviously, any time that you get bad news in terms of things not moving forward it’s not a good day,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Tuesday. “And yet at the same time, I’m not so discouraged because I’ve been here. And I know that the phoenix can rise out of the ashes, so to speak. And the same thing can happen here.”
Nearly all but one of the current GOP senators voted in 2015 for legislation to repeal the healthcare law, but it was purely a show vote since President Obama was expected veto it.