Rep. Smith: Most GOP House members on board with health-care bill; others 'holding out for perfection'

Most Republican congressmen supported the recent U.S. House bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Rep. Jason Smith said Thursday.

President Donald Trump and the House GOP leadership including Smith had pushed for passage of the legislation.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan recently pulled the bill because he could not secure enough support from the GOP caucus to pass the legislation.

Still, Smith remains optimistic Republicans can craft a health-care bill that will pass the House.

About 90 percent of House Republicans supported the legislation, he said.

“That is pretty substantial,” Smith added.

Moderates and libertarians “liked many parts of the bill, but they were holding out for more,” Smith said. “So many were holding out for perfection.”

Smith said “many of these people agreed with 80 to 90 percent of this bill, but still opposed it.”

The congressman said lawmakers have to find a “fine balance” that will suit moderates and conservative members in order to pass health-care legislation.

Smith said, “This bill was not perfect.” He added, “I am all about making this bill better, but we have to govern and we have to move forward.”

He said he believes the House will be able to convince enough GOP House members to support a health-care bill at some point.

“I do believe when we have almost 90 percent of Republicans supporting President Trump, I think the other 10 percent will be coming along,” Smith said.

On Russia

Meanwhile, allegations of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has sparked political debate on Capitol Hill.

Smith said he has seen no evidence that associates of President Trump colluded with the Russian government to interfere in last year’s presidential election.

“I have seen a lot of political rhetoric coming from the other side,” the 8th District Republican congressman said in a phone interview Thursday from the capitol.

Smith voiced support for House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes. The chairman has come under fire for reviewing intelligence reports and meeting a secret source on the White House grounds as part of the committee’s investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election, according to The Associated Press.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, has called for Nunes to recuse himself. Democrats have accused Nunes of having ties to the White House and argued he cannot direct an objective investigation.

Smith said Nunes should not recuse himself from the House committee’s investigation.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said of the criticism of Nunes.

“If he should step down then the ranking member (Schiff) should step down because he has been the most political, jumping in front of any camera that he possibly could,” Smith said.

“I am telling you right now, it is just another attack where these Democrats are throwing out a bomb and then trying to hide,” said the Salem, Missouri, congressman.

Some Republican U.S. senators have expressed concern regarding possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. But Smith dismissed such comments as coming from senators who did not support Trump in the 2016 election.

GOP senators “John McCain and Lindsey Graham were not for Trump. Lindsey even said he voted for someone else,” Smith said.

“What we do know in fact is that part of the president’s transition team was wiretapped,” Smith said.

“It is illegal for intelligence to be released, and somebody released it,” he said.

Trump has tweeted that former president Barack Obama tapped his phones at Trump Tower. But FBI director James Comey has said there is no evidence supporting that allegation.

Smith said there has been “a growing pain” in Washington, D.C., because “Trump is clearly not business as usual, and folks weren’t ready for that.”

“One of the main reasons I supported President Trump is that he is not business as usual and he is shaking things up,” Smith said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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