How Tampa Bay Republicans could vote on Trumpcare

Share

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the “Trumpcare” Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act Thursday — are the Tampa Bay area Republican members of Congress on board? It’s pretty difficult to say, since many of them did not respond when WMNF News reached out to them.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan from Sarasota
Vern Buchanan. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News (Feb. 2009).

Congress members Dennis Ross and Vern Buchanan did not respond at all to phone calls and emails.

Tom Rooney’s office said he is not available for an interview and did not respond when asked his position on the AHCA.

A Gus Bilirakis spokesperson said he was not available for an interview but wrote “The Congressman supports AHCA as a more viable path but views it as a work-in-progress.”

Daniel Webster was not available either, but a spokesperson wrote “at this time he is undecided, he is reviewing all the changes to see if they’ve addressed areas he was particularly concerned about.”

Supporters of Obamacare are rallying Thursday in front of Congress member Gus Bilirakis’ Tarpon Springs office. It begins at 11:00 a.m. at 38500 US Highway 19 North and is being called “Fight like Health!!! ACA Birthday Protest.”

Bilirakis’ spokesperson responded to news of the rally: “The Congressman always welcomes his constituents expressing their views. That is what a representative democracy is all about.”

She added, “after holding these town halls and events, he acted on the calls from constituents to maintain some of the popular provisions of Obamacare in AHCA. He fought for provisions like maintaining protections on pre-existing conditions, keeping children on their parent’s insurance, eliminating lifetime caps on care, and more.”

Over in the Senate, the Tampa Bay Times says Florida Republican Marco Rubio told Jacksonville radio station WOKV that he has not decided about the Ryan / Trump health care bill.

Democrats in Congress seem fairly united against the repeal of Obamacare. Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor took to the House floor Wednesday morning to speak against the American Health Care Act, which would repeal and replace Obamacare.

Listen:

 

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

Democracy Now!
Player position: