Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Reaction on re-stab at health bill tepid
Vote this week seen as unlikely
WASHINGTON — A White House proposal to restart talks on the House Republican health care bill got an uneven reception Tuesday from GOP moderates and conservatives.
Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials were offering to let states request federal exemptions from insurance coverage requirements imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Top House conservatives and moderates planned to meet with Pence and GOP leaders late Tuesday in hopes of finding common ground, but the odds for success seemed long.
At the White House, Pence said he and President Donald Trump “remain confident that working with the Congress we will repeal and replace Obamacare,” referring to the Affordable Care Act.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wants an agreement, if possible.
“I’m not going to raise expectations, but I think
that there are more and more people coming to the table with more and more ideas about how to grow that vote,” Spicer said.
There was no immediate indication that the proposal won over any GOP members who’d forced Trump and party leaders to retreat on their bill on March 24, when they canceled a House vote that was doomed to failure.
“We want to make sure that when we go, we have the votes to pass this bill,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. He said talks were in “the conceptual stage,” and he declined to predict whether a vote would be scheduled before congressional leaders leave Washington at the end of the week for a two-week recess.
Speaking cautiously, Ryan explained that negotiators have yet to produce text of a new or revised bill. He did not detail what issues the talks hinge upon now.
“Now we’re throwing around concepts to improve the bill,” he said. “That’s occurring right now. But that is not to say that we are ready to go.”
Several lawmakers said they think a vote could still occur this week.
“The administration is saying it would like it this week,” Republican Rep. Chris Collins of New York said Tuesday morning.
Later in the day, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., his party’s chief vote counter, said talks were not at “a place where there is consensus” on health care and indicated a vote this week was unlikely.
With Congress’ recession nearing and Trump meeting this week with three foreign leaders, there was little expectation within the White House earlier Monday that there would be significant movement on a health-care bill in coming days. But several key players on the Hill and at the White House said talks have progressed.
“It’s on the back burner, but the boil is still going,” said a senior administration official familiar with the Trump administration’s strategy, who requested anonymity to speak more candidly.
Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and budget director Mick Mulvaney went to Capitol Hill late Monday to attend a meeting of the hardright House Freedom Caucus, where they offered a “solid idea” that could form the basis of an intraparty compromise, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters Monday night.
Administration officials described the possible deal only in broad outlines, Meadows said, but legislative text reflecting the proposal was expected to be drafted by Tuesday.
“We’re certainly encouraged by the progress that we seem to be making,” Meadows said although he cautioned reporters that there was no deal in place to modify and proceed with the bill that was pulled from the House floor last month.
Two attendees of the White House session said afterward that they were optimistic, but not certain, that an accord could be reached.
“Anything’s possible,” said Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., a co-chairman of the moderate Tuesday Group. “I’m not saying I think it’ll happen — I don’t know — but I think it’s possible.”
IDEAL AFLOAT
Under the White House proposal, states could apply for a federal waiver from a provision in former President Barack Obama’s statute obliging insurers to cover “essential health benefits,” including mental health, maternity and substance abuse services. The current version of the GOP legislation would erase that coverage requirement but let states reimpose it themselves, language that is opposed by many moderates.
In addition, the White House would let states seek an exemption to the law’s provision banning insurers from charging higher premiums for seriously ill people. Conservatives have argued that such restrictions inflate consumers’ costs.
The underlying House Republican bill as it was originally cast would repeal much of the 2010 health care law championed by former President
Obama. It would erase its tax fines for consumers who don’t buy policies, federal aid to help many afford coverage and Medicaid expansion for additional poor people.
Instead, substitute GOP tax subsidies would be less generous than Obama’s for many lower earners and people in their 50s and 60s, the overall Medicaid program would be cut, tax boosts on higher earners would be ended, and consumers who let coverage lapse would face 30 percent premium increases.
Reaction from rank-andfile GOP lawmakers to the White House’s revisions was mixed. Moderate Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., and conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., each said they remained “no” votes, with Brooks saying states should be allowed to opt out of Obama’s insurance requirements without seeking federal permission.
“It is wrong to require the states to come to Washington, D.C., on bended knee,” Brooks said.
Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, was among several moderates warning that a quick vote would be counter-productive.
“If leadership hasn’t learned the lessons of the failures of two weeks ago, then they’ll bring something forward where nobody knows about it and try and get it passed,” Renacci said.
Even so, some members of the House Freedom Caucus were showing signs of accepting less than many originally wanted. Meadows said talks were boiling down to curbing several of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements.
“It perhaps is as much of a repeal as we can get done,” Meadows told reporters. He added, “That’s the calculation we have to make.”
Trump took aim at the Freedom Caucus in a series of tweets last week, pledging to “fight them” at the polls in the 2018 midterms. The move appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to jolt the hard-liners into supporting the GOP health care bill.
Trump remained active on Twitter over the weekend, suggesting that the situation was still fluid — and that he is looking at ways to move forward with the help of either moderate Democrats or conservative Republicans.
He also played a round of golf Sunday with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been a sharp critic of the House bill and praised its failure less than two weeks before.
On Monday, Paul summoned reporters to his office and positioned himself as a potential broker of a compromise, floating a proposal that he suggested could win broad GOP support.
“If conservatives want 100 percent repeal, let’s say moderates want 80 percent repeal,” he said. “Let’s vote on 90 percent repeal, and be done with it.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez on Tuesday called the Republican leadership “heartless” in how it is dealing with a law that extended health care to 24 million people.
“I believe anyone who wants to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act should be required to spend five hours in an emergency room watching what the Affordable Care Act has done in their community and the country,” Perez said on MSNBC.