{"id":9653,"date":"2017-01-04T19:09:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T19:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/01\/04\/its-chaos-versus-order-in-first-salvo-of-fight-to-repeal-obamacare\/"},"modified":"2017-01-04T19:09:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T19:09:00","slug":"its-chaos-versus-order-in-first-salvo-of-fight-to-repeal-obamacare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/its-chaos-versus-order-in-first-salvo-of-fight-to-repeal-obamacare\/","title":{"rendered":"It's 'Chaos' Versus 'Order' In First Salvo Of Fight To Repeal Obamacare"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brian Naylor<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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House Speaker Paul Ryan has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but House Republicans have not settled on a plan to replace it. Instead, Ryan said, his members have many “ideas.” J. Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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J. Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Opening punches were thrown in what one top Democrat today called “the first big fight” of the new congressional year \u2014 the promise by President-elect Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

President Obama met with Democrats on Capitol Hill while Vice President-elect Mike Pence sat down with Republicans, as each side prepared for the skirmishing in the days and months ahead.<\/p>\n

Asked what advice he gave Democrats in the closed-door meeting about the legacy program that bears his name, Obama responded, “Look out for the American people.”<\/p>\n

It was likely Obama’s last visit to the Capitol before the inauguration of his successor. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama told the lawmakers he wished he were in their place.<\/p>\n

“The word he used was ‘envy,’ ” Earnest said, “for the opportunity they have” to fight GOP repeal efforts.<\/p>\n

Pence told reporters that Trump will sign executive orders on his first day in office to begin implementing the repeal of Obamacare, saying it was “the first order of business.”<\/p>\n

The incoming administration, Pence said, is working right now on “a series of executive orders that will enable that orderly transition to take place even as the Congress appropriately debates alternatives to and replacement of Obamacare.”<\/p>\n

He did not offer any specifics on what those orders would entail. He said Republicans will be taking a “two-track approach” with a combination of executive and legislative actions.<\/p>\n

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