Congressman Peter Welch says he is “very relieved” that a Republican health care bill has been pulled from the House floor because House Speaker Paul Ryan lacked the votes to pass the legislation.
Welch says he strongly opposes the bill because he believes it will be disaster for many low and middle income people.
Welch pointed to a report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that estimates that 24 million individuals will lose their coverage over the next 10 years if the GOP bill becomes law.
Welch says Republican leaders have discovered that it's much easier to criticize the current Affordable Care Act than it is to replace it.
"I am very, very relieved and I think the big problem is that in the past week we really unmasked this bill for what it was,” said Welch. "It was not a health care reform bill because none of the provisions in it addressed any of things that the critics said were wrong with the Affordable Care Act."
Welch says he hopes Speaker Paul Ryan will work with House Democrats to improve a number of provisions of the Affordable Care Act rather than proposing plans to repeal it.
