Republicans rebelling against health bill risk Trump’s wrath
NEW YORK — Hardline House Republicans considering voting against the House GOP health bill are bracing for payback from a president who claims his favorite biblical passage is “an eye for an eye.” Many appear ready to risk it.
The scheduled roll call vote for the bill backed by President Donald Trump is a crucial first test of whether Republicans are willing to defy the White House and face the wrath of a president who has bragged about never forgetting a slight. Trump has shown he’s willing to use his megaphone and practiced counter-punch against his allies. But the vote comes as Trump’s poll numbers have slouched and his White House is consumed with damaging distractions.
A group of breakaway Republicans, including several members of the deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus, on Wednesday remained unbowed, taking comfort in the political safety they feel in their home districts.
Members are well aware they face possible primary threats if they vote against the bill the White House has cast as the only chance to make good on a GOP promise to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law.
White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told holdout lawmakers Wednesday: “You all have to vote for this. We’ve got to do this. I know you don’t like it, but you have to vote for this,” according to several representatives present. The comment came after Trump told a group Tuesday that “many of you will lose your seats in 2018” if Republicans don’t pass a health care bill.
“They know,” said Rep. Steve Stivers, of Ohio, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, of the looming primary threats. Stivers said he’s heard Trump “say things privately” about retaliating against those who oppose the measure. “Every member has their own calculations they have to look at,” he said.
More than two dozen members of the House Freedom Caucus oppose the plan because they say it doesn’t go far enough to undo Obamacare. Some moderate GOP members, meanwhile, were turned off by a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis predicting 24 million people would lose coverage in a decade.
Most of the GOP novoters represent safely Republican seats — some drawn to ensure they stay that way — and whose grip on power would only be threatened by a primary challenger.