No one seems to want credit for the GOP's Obamacare replacement bill

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Donald Trump Paul Ryan

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Donald Trump meets with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Even as major leaders of the Republican party are publicly campaigning in favor of the passage of the American Health Care Act - their bid to repeal and replace Obamacare - it seems as if no one wants full credit for the bill.

Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump's teams have pushed back on taking on full responsibility for the contents of the AHCA, biling it as a team effort.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer was asked directly about efforts by both Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway and Health and Human Secretary Tom Price to push back on reporters calling the bill "Trumpcare."

"The president is proud of it. The president is proud of the fact that we're working with Congress. But this is a bill that is not his, it's a joint effort that we've worked with the House and the Senate on," Spicer said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

"He's proud of it.  He's proud of the impact that it's going to have on American patients.  So I don't think this is about labels and names, this is about getting a job done."

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At the same time, Ryan also seemed to step back from taking full credit for the bill in an interview on Wednesday. Many conservative and liberal blogs have taken to deriding the law as "Ryancare."

During an interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, Ryan stressed that Trump had a part in crafting the bill.

"Obviously, the major components are staying intact because this is something we wrote with President Trump," Ryan said. "This is something we wrote with the Senate committees. So just so you know, Maria, this is the plan we ran on all of last year. This is the plan that we've been working with House, Senate, White House together on."

The approach from each camp was reminiscient to President Barack Obama's approach of Obamacare, the name Republicans used to deride the law. Obama eventually said he welcomed the "Obamacare" moniker while he was campaigning for reelection.

 

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