The loss of the American Health Care Act can't be blamed on any particular faction in the House of Representatives, when the problem is that Republicans pushed for the bill to move too fast, Sen. Tom Cotton said Sunday.
"Some conservatives opposed it, some moderates opposed it, even a chairman of a powerful committee opposed it," the Arkansas Republican told CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "Healthcare is a very complicated issue. To release a bill written in secret and expect to pass it in 18 days, I just don't think is feasible."
President Donald Trump was correct to say Democrats gave the nation Obamacare, said Cotton, and also to say the failure of the AHCA does not solve the problems with the Affordable Care Act, which are continuing to grow worse.
"We have to revisit it and now have the time to do it in a more deliberate and careful fashion, but ultimately I don't think you can lay the defeat of this bill last week on any single faction in the House of Representatives," the Arkansas Republican said.
Democrats had been pursuing a national heatlhcare system for years before President Barack Obama and their party came to power in 2009, but they still did not introduce legislation for eight months, or pass it for over a year of Obama's first term, Cotton pointed out.
"It went through very public hearings and took testimony and developed a fact-based foundation of knowledge," said Cotton. "President Obama traveled around the country, around town halls and spoke to a joint session of Congress."
He said he does not believe Republicans also needed 14 months to pass the legislation, but a more careful and deliberate approach was needed.
Trump tweeted on Sunday that the House Freedom Caucus' fight against the AHCA "saved Planned Parenthood and Obamacare," but Cotton did not agree.
"I think more nonconservatives than conservatives opposed it and when you lose the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful positions, the problem really is not with a specific faction in the House, I think it is with the bill," said Cotton.
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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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