By Jim Kinney | jkinney@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD — One day after leading a successful House debate, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal said Friday he’s confident Affordable Care Act tax credits will survive.
“The ACA is not going away. It’s going to be there,” Neal, D-Springfield, told reporters Friday afternoon at the Federal Courthouse on State Street.
He said he is pleased with the momentum that’s developed sound the issue.
At least 15 million people were in danger of losing their health care benefits.
Thursday, 17 Republicans crossed the aisle and voted with Neal and Democrats on an extension of the COVID-era tax credits for health care, credits that expired at the end of the year. Now the measure goes to the Senate, where there are several competing plans brewing.
“I thought what we did (Thursday) was a compromise, so there will be some competing measures here,” Neal said. “I would urge the Senate to simply vote up and down on our plan, extend the credits for three years, and then we can have a full force discussion about how to improve the ACA.”
Neal said the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, was polling in the 30% approval range when it passed and is now in the 60s.
But for any fix to become law, it must first cross the desk of President Donald Trump.
“Well, the President has been uncharacteristically quiet on this, and I think it’s because he understands where opinion is on it across the country. And I think that he’s witnessed a substantial revolt in his own party in the last week on war powers as it relates to Venezuela. There are those who have questioned for sure aggressively his argument and somehow Greenland is ripe for military intervention,” Neal said.
Seventeen GOP votes was more than the minimum Democrats needed.
“I think that there are some indications that there’s a considerable fracture taking place between the president and the Republican Party in Congress,” Neal said.
Neal had planned to talk tariffs. He’s signed on to legal briefs supporting businesses suing Trump’s use of emergency powers to tax imported goods. It was thought the U.S. Supreme Court would rule Friday on the matter.
Neal also called for “restraint” on the part of immigration officers while the state of Minnesota investigates the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good. He said Trump and his cabinet are rushing to judgment before an investigation.
He said Minnesota officials need to be part of the investigation.
Immigration enforcement is escalating, he said. At first, it was to be directed at immigrants who’d committed crimes.
“We now find that people are being apprehended in courthouses when they are simply there to check on their status,” Neal said. “They’re here legally.”
Congress — members of both parties — will reflect public will on the matter. Heated rhetoric is not helpful, he said.
