Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Moderate At Center Of House Health Bill Negotiations Gives Up Chairman Position
The Associated Press: Congressman Quits Post In GOP Group Over Health Care Bill
A New Jersey Republican congressman who helped push the House health care bill to passage quit his post Tuesday as a chairman of the chamber's moderate Tuesday Group, criticizing colleagues for having "different objectives and a different sense of governing than I do." Rep. Tom MacArthur, a second-term congressman, announced his decision at a closed-door meeting of the group, which has roughly 50 members. (Fram, 5/23)
USA Today: Rep. Tom MacArthur Quits As Leader Of Moderate Tuesday Group
"I realized through the health care debates that people in my group wanted different things. They had a very different view of governing," MacArthur told reporters during a House vote Tuesday. MacArthur became co-chairman of the Tuesday Group at the beginning of this year. A former insurance executive now in his second term in the House, he was the first New Jersey Republican to support House leaders' bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. (Jackson, 5/23)
Politico: MacArthur Resigns As Co-Chairman Of 'Clearly Divided' Tuesday Group
“Clearly, our group is divided. Many in the Tuesday Group are eager to live up to our ideal of being problem-solvers, while others seem unwilling to compromise,” MacArthur, 56, told the group, according to prepared remarks obtained by POLITICO New Jersey. (Jennings, 5/23)
The Washington Post: Q&A: Rep. Tom MacArthur And The Agony Of GOP Moderates In Trump’s Washington
MacArthur’s brief and uneasy turn under the national spotlight has been telling. Exchanges from his packed forum this month in deep-blue Willingboro — mostly of supporters of the Affordable Care Act fuming about his attempts to repeal and replace the law — have been replayed endlessly on cable news. And the centrists MacArthur once led are increasingly nervous about their reelection chances — and have groused that his eagerness to cut a deal with Freedom Caucus hard-liners is partly responsible for their vulnerability. (Costa, 5/23)
