Scott Powers
As conservatives mount pressure on Republicans in Congress to support the GOP health care plan, more moderate U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen became the first to announce she is breaking ranks.
Ros-Lehtinen, of Miami, announced late Tuesday that she is concerned about the affects the American Health Care Act would have on the poor and elderly, and cannot support it, and saying, “this plan is not the replacement South Florida needs.”
“I have decided to vote no on the bill as currently written,” she stated. “The bill’s consequences for South Florida are clear: too many of my constituents will lose insurance and there will be less funds to help the poor and elderly with their healthcare. I voted to repeal Obamacare many times because it was not the right fix for our broken healthcare system and did not live up to its promise to the American people but this plan is not the replacement South Florida needs.
We should work together to write a bipartisan bill that works for our community and our nation without hurting the elderly and disadvantaged among us,” she concluded.
Her lost vote comes as the conservative American Action Network has begun a nationwide cable TV ad campaign targeting at least three Republican Florida members of Congress, urging people to urge them to vote yes.
The ads so far have appeared targeting U.S. Reps. Bill Posey of Rockledge, Carlos Curbelo of Miami, and Ted Yoho of Gainesville.
