Yet the Ways and Means panel's approval of health care legislation only masked deeper problems Republican backers face. Hospitals, doctors and consumer groups mounted intensifying opposition to the GOP health care drive and the White House and Republican leaders labored to rally a divided party behind their high-stakes overhaul crusade. Seven years ago their backing was instrumental in enacting Obama's health care statute, which President Donald Trump and Republicans are intent on erasing. In words aimed at recalcitrant colleagues, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters: "This is what good, conservative health care reform looks like. Around $600 billion in 10-year tax boosts that Obama's statute imposed on wealthy Americans and others to finance his overhaul would be repealed.

Source: Fox News March 09, 2017 05:37 UTC