It was President Trump’s first major political defeat. Last week GOP leaders yanked their bill to repeal “Obamacare” off the House floor when it became clear it would fail.
House Speaker Paul Ryan told President Trump that he was unable to convince fellow republicans and the bill would not pass. The Freedom Caucus, a group of influential conservative congressman played a pivotal role in defeating Trump’s proposal.
Rep. Andy Harris is a key republican and a member of the Freedom Caucus. He is a Navy veteran and also a medical doctor who understood the issues with the President’s repeal plan, which was dubbed by the conservatives as “Obamacare Light.” As a long-time opponent of Obamacare he felt that Trump’s bill did not go far enough and refused it.
Andy Harris
I might add, that Rep. Harris’s name had been floated as a possible director of the National Institutes of Health, and he also met several times face to face with the President.
Harris was elected first in 2010 in Maryland’s 1st district and last November he was solidly behind Trump as his party’s nominee for President. Later he criticized Trump’s lewd comments on the leaked Access Hollywood tape.
The Congressman was born in the US, his father came to the country after World War II. The family hails from Miskolc, Northern-Hungary; his mother has Ukrainian roots. The Catholic lawmaker does not speak Hungarian and became the co-chair of the Hungarian Congressional Caucus in 2013.
György Lázár
