The American Health Care Act will fail its first full House vote, as conservatives won't vote for the measure without a score from the Congressional Budget Office and without more free market forces to drive down the cost of healthcare, Sen. Mike Lee said Thursday morning.
Lee was encouraging his friends in the House who are on the fence over the bill to "just vote no."
"The fact is, they shouldn't," the Utah Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "They wouldn't, I believe, at the end of the day, they won't. That's why I think this bill is going to fail."
For one, the bill is being rushed through, said Lee, and as there are only hours before it goes to a vote, Lee said he doesn't understand why the whole thing needs to be rewritten in order to convince reluctant conservatives to vote for it.
"We have to go back to the drawing board and come up with free market solutions that will actually bring down costs," said Lee. "Conservatives should not vote for this bill. Republicans should not vote for this bill. At the end of the day, they are not going to."
The only way healthcare could be saved for millions is to restore the markets through competition, said Lee.
"We can add more competition to the marketplace through free markets and federalism," said Lee. "The more we rely on focusing more and more energy and money and power in Washington, D.C., the more that's going to tend to keep things as bad as they are or perhaps drive healthcare costs up more, at a time when poor, middle class Americans can least afford that."
Further, said Lee, it would be "ironic and tragic" if Congress voted to approve the bill on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of when Obamacare was passed, and if "Republicans made the same mistake as when Obamacare was passed, to get members of Congress to vote for something they little understood and too little considered."
Instead, the matter should be undertaken with caution while working to repeal and replace Obamacare with a plan that works, said Lee.
"Part of being a governing party means putting forward legislation that members of our own party can vote for, while maintaining campaign promises," said Lee. "We have promised to repeal Obamacare root and branch, to get rid of it. This bill stops short of that and stops short in a way that's going to leave healthcare costs high. We can't do that, shouldn't do it and aren't going to do it."
A defeat would actually be a good thing, said Lee, as the AHCA can come back for further discussion leading to the right product.
Further, the bill has got to change, as it's apparent hours before the vote that there are not enough Republican votes to approve it, said Lee.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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