Republicans say they love their healthcare bill — but neither Trump nor Ryan will put his name on it

pulse

March 15, 2017 4:32 PM

House Speaker Paul Ryan doesn't want the GOP's replacement to be pegged as "Ryancare," and President Donald Trump doesn't want it to be just "Trumpcare."

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 House GOP's bid to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law better known as Obamacare, it seems as if no one wants full credit for the bill.

The teams of both House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump have pushed back on taking on full responsibility for the contents of the American Health Care Act, billing it as a team effort.

The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, was asked directly about efforts by both Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway and Health and Human Services 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."

Ryan also seemed to step back from taking full credit for the bill in an interview Wednesday. Many conservative and liberal blogs have taken to deriding the proposed 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 reminiscent of President Barack Obama's approach to 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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