Congressman quits post in GOP group over health care bill
New Jersey Congressman Tom MacArthur faces a tough crowd in Willingboro earlier this month, taking questions about health care, the president's tax returns, and investigations into connections between the White House and Russia. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
A New Jersey Republican who helped push the House health care bill to passage has quit as a chairman of the chamber’s moderate Tuesday Group. Rep. Tom MacArthur is complaining that some in the organization “seem unwilling to compromise.”
After an initial version of the legislation collapsed because of opposition by GOP conservatives and moderates, MacArthur worked with a leading conservative to craft language that helped the measure win passage. It included letting states get federal permission for insurers to boost premiums on people with pre-existing medical conditions.
The bill squeaked through the House over opposition from all voting Democrats and 20 Republicans, many of whom are Tuesday Group members.
MacArthur said some group members “have different objectives and a different sense of governing than I do.”
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