Podcast: Congressman Kevin Cramer House Would Probably Pass Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill

0

North Dakota Representative Kevin Cramer speaks Sunday, April 3, 2016, at the ND GOP Convention at Scheels Arena in Fargo of his choice to endorse Donald Trump for president. Rick Abbott / The Forum

The national political debate is focused on the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill right now, yet another Republican effort to deal with Obamacare after campaigning on repealing and replacing that awful policy for years.

Will they be successful? Or will Republicans fall on their faces again?

“This was a little bit different than the last one in that it’s starting in the Senate,” Congressman Kevin Cramer told me during our weekly segment on my radio show today.

There is a lot of vote counting going on in the Senate right now to see if Republicans can muster the 50 votes they need to pass the bill through the budget reconciliation process, but Cramer points out that the deadline for that is September 30. After that, Republicans would have to get a bill past the filibuster, which seems unlikely at this point.

But Cramer is confident that, should the Senate send the bill to the House, it’d pass.

“I think my colleagues feel like they could support it,” he said. “If it comes over I think we will pass it.”

Cramer says he supports the bill, pointing out that it’s a “binary choice” between this bill and keeping the Obamacare status quo.

The full audio is below. You can listen to the show M-F from 1-2pm (or 12-2pm starting on September 27) on 970 WDAY AM and 93.1 FM in the Fargo/Moorhead region, or you can subscribe to the podcast.

[fcc_jw_podcast key=”Xsasmk1s”]