Jewish Lawmakers To Follow Party Line In Major Healthcare Vote

Image by wikimedia commons

By Nathan Guttman March 22, 2017

The House of Representatives is set to vote Thursday on the American Health Care Act, also known as “Trumpcare,” “Ryancare,” or the “repeal and replace” bill, and Jewish members of Congress are breaking strictly by party line in what could be a tight vote.

All 20 Jewish Democrats in the House are expected to deliver a “no” vote, as will their other party members.

The two Jewish Republicans are also seen as safe vote for their party.

New York’s Lee Zeldin has made clear in a letter to constituents that he is supportive of the bill that would “provide relief from the significant amount of taxes and mandates enacted under the ACA.” Zeldin stressed, however, that there “must be a smooth transition to a better reality that will improve affordability, access, quality of care and option.”

Tennessee’s freshman Republican congressman David Kustoff, who is also Jewish, is still learning the “final product” of the legislation, according to local WKRN but his statements indicate support of the bill.

Neither Zeldin nor Kustoff are listed on any Republican whip list as potentially opposing the bill.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 22.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO