Unwilling to take heat from the GOP leadership after the implosion of RyanCare, a Houston Republican has resigned from the conservative Freedom Caucus.
Widely recognized as being the home of the U.S. House of Representatives’ most conservative lawmakers, the Freedom Caucus opposed the proposal put forward by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-The Woodlands) to replace the Affordable Care Act, known colloquially as ObamaCare. The Freedom Caucus advocated for full repeal of the measure.
Numerous conservative groups agreed, including the Club for Growth and Heritage Action, with their position bolstered by a report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation showing that the GOP proposal could be worse even than the existing law.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Humble) resigned his membership in the Freedom Caucus in the aftermath of Ryan pulling the measure in the face of sure defeat on the House floor.
“There’s nothing that could be added to the bill that the Freedom Caucus would ever vote yes on,” Poe told CNN.
In a statement regarding the resignation, Poe wrote that “Leaving this caucus will allow me to be a more effective Member of Congress and advocate for the people of Texas.”
That seems hard to imagine. Among other findings by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Ryan-Brady proposal forced Texas taxpayers to continue subsidizing states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the false promises of ObamaCare.
The Ryan plan also created a new entitlement program of “refundable” tax credits that would be available even to those in the country illegally, according to the foundation.
