Republican lawmakers are tweaking the proposed American Health Care Act with so many extras, they are setting the bill up for failure when it goes to a vote in the House on Thursday, veteran political commentator Michael Reagan told Newsmax TV.
"This is the problem with Washington, D.C.: They just can't do something clean," Reagan told Wednesday's "The Steve Malzberg Show." "They got to add and subtract 900 different items.
"Things keep on being put into bills that, in fact, take away from the original idea of getting rid of Obamacare and replace it with a health plan that's good for everybody. The politics get in the middle of it, and that's why, in fact, it may even fail tomorrow."
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As an example, Reagan mentioned the defunding of Planned Parenthood, an idea he said is "not going to live through the Senate."
This week, the House has been tweaking the bill – which is supposed to replace the Affordable Care Act – in a bid to change the minds of lawmakers who vow to vote against it. And President Donald Trump has been speaking with the bill's opponents in a bid to get them on board.
Reagan criticized conservatives for being able to work together and get bills passed.
"It's interesting to watch conservatives because Donald Trump and the Republicans are damned if they do, damned if they don't," he told Malzberg. "If they pass it, there's parts of it that are not liked by conservatives.
"If they don't pass it, the conservatives are going to come out against those Republicans who didn't vote for it in the next election. This is the problem that conservatives have with so many of these issues. It's hard for them to get together . . . and get something passed."
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