Congressman quits post in GOP group over health care bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — A New Jersey Republican congressman who helped push the House health care bill to passage quit his post Tuesday as a chairman of the chamber's moderate Tuesday Group, criticizing colleagues for having "different objectives and a different sense of governing than I do."

MacArthur played a central role in reviving the GOP legislation after an initial version collapsed under opposition from GOP moderates and conservatives.

[...] one member said MacArthur was told to not negotiate with the conservatives because he'd be encroaching on the authority of some Tuesday Group members, who are senior members of committees with health care jurisdiction.

In a statement by spokesman Evan Lukaske, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — House Democrats' political arm — said MacArthur showed "a disturbing lack of regard for the families of his district" and called him "a right-wing ideologue."