Clark County Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler announced Thursday that she is opposed to the Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
The GOP lawmaker said in a statement that she can't support the bill "in its current form," saying she was worried about the impact on "vulnerable children."
That issue is personal with the congresswoman, whose 3-year-old daughter was born without kidneys. She later received a kidney transplant from her father and is now thriving, the family reported last year.
Herrera Beutler issued her statement on the bill to revamp the nation's health care system just hours before the measure was expected to reach the House floor Thursday afternoon.
"While I appreciate this week's efforts by Speaker [Paul] Ryan and his leadership team to better protect older Americans from health care cost increases," Herrera Beutler said, "the difficulties this bill would create for millions of children were left unaddressed."
The congresswoman said she tried without success to get changes to the bill to "strengthen the Medicaid safety net for kids who depend on it for their health care."
Herrera Beutler also said the bill doesn't do enough to lower the costs of health care.
"In the final analysis, this bill falls short," said Herrera Beutler. "We can't give up on replacing Obamacare with a solution that provides affordable, high-quality health care to all Americans."
House Republican leaders and President Donald Trump have struggled to win enough support to pass the bill, known as the American Health Care Act.
They are trying to walk a line between conservatives in the Republican caucus who want to further reduce Medicaid benefits and representatives such as Herrera Beutler who want to go in the other direction.