LaHood: Republicans ‘miscalculated’ on Obamacare overhaul

Posted on March 28, 2017
Darin LaHood
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood said he would have supported the Obamacare overhaul which was pulled without a vote last week. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Darin LaHood)

By Eric Stock

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Congressman Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, said there’s plenty of blame to go around to explain Congress’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, including his own party.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with LaHood on WJBC.

“Having a new administration that didn’t fully understand the ramifications here and were not fully involved in the negotiations, I think that was a part of it ,” LaHood said, “There was a lot of expectations put on the new president to get these (lawmakers) that weren’t on board to get them on board and obviously that didn’t happen.”

LaHood told WJBC Scott Laughlin he would have voted for the Affordable Care Act overhaul that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., pulled before a vote was taken. LaHood said it would have been a starting point.

“It’s much easier to be an opposition party than it is to be a governing party, I think we found that out last week,” LaHood said, adding that health care should remain on Congress’ agenda this year.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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