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DCCC Slams House GOP Freshmen for Taking Government Health Care

House Democrats called out GOP Members on Tuesday for enrolling in government-run health care plans, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pushed for a vote on a House-passed bill that would repeal the health care overhaul law.

“Despite running a campaign largely focused on repealing government funded health care,” scores of Republicans chose to enroll themselves in the government plans, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wrote in a release sent to many of the 87 districts represented by first-term House Republicans. New Members became eligible to enroll in the federally subsidized plans Tuesday, and more than a dozen of the GOP freshmen have vowed not to sign up.

“Representative [Kristi] Noem (R-N.D.) is accepting government funded health care, despite continuing the push to repeal the health reform benefits for middle income families,” DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson wrote in the version of the release that was tailored to Noem’s district. 

“Representative Kristi Noem apparently believes that repealing health insurance reform and putting private insurance companies back in charge of our health care may be good for her constituents, but it’s not good for her very own family,” Ferguson wrote.

Noem spokesman Joshua Shields defended his boss’s acceptance of government health care and said that House Republicans are crafting legislation to replace the law, which was enacted last year.

“Rep. Noem supports repealing and replacing the health care bill so more Americans can gain access to affordable health care plans like the ones available to federal employees,” Shields said in a statement. “Unlike Obamacare, federal employees have choices among providers. These partisan attacks are trying hard to make a connection where there isn’t one.”

All House Republicans voted Jan. 19 in favor of repealing the sweeping health care law. McConnell moved Tuesday to attach the House-passed repeal language to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that is set for floor consideration this week, although Senate Democrats have vowed to block any repeal efforts.

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