Health deal eludes Republicans
Party’s conservatives, moderates and White House scramble to agree
Republican leaders
WASHINGTON suffered a major setback Thursday, postponing a planned vote on their bill to repeal and replace Obamacare because they could not get enough support from their own party to pass the legislation.
The tumult on Capitol Hill underscored how difficult it is for Republicans to unite their divided party and deliver on a big campaign promise despite controlling Congress and the White House.
President Trump invited conservative and moderate factions of Republicans to the White House on Thursday to try to win them over, but House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called off the Thursday night vote when it was clear he might not have the votes to approve the American Health Care Act. The White House said it was confident the bill would pass Friday morning.
Even if it does, it is unlikely to be approved by Senate Republicans without major changes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said there will be “a robust amendment process” in that chamber, where conservative and moderate Republicans have expressed skepticism about the House bill.
“The last few weeks of drama could have been avoided if Speaker Paul Ryan and House leadership had provided a more open process and sought feedback early on from House conservatives, including the members of the Freedom Caucus,” said Adam Brandon, the president of FreedomWorks, a conservative group lobbying for changes in the GOP bill.
The House Freedom Caucus has played a high-profile role in the intra-party debate as many of its approximately 40 members came out against the initial bill because they said it wouldn’t go far
enough in dismantling government regulations put in place by the Affordable Care Act. Trump and Ryan have tried to appease the conservatives without losing moderates worried their constituents would lose coverage under the bill.
The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that changes made to the bill this week would add billions to its cost without reducing the number of people who would no longer have medical coverage. As in the original version of the GOP bill, about 24 million fewer people would have medical coverage in 2026 compared with the number that would be covered under Obamacare. The latest version of the Republican bill would reduce the deficit by about $150 billion over 10 years instead of about $337 billion under the initial version.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he still hopes a deal can be reached and praised Trump and Ryan for their efforts to negotiate a compromise. “Do I think it (the postponed vote) gives the president a loss? Absolutely not,” Meadows said. “We are going to get to the finish line because the president has committed to get to the finish line. Moderates and conservatives are committed to get to the finish line. And when we get there, we will be able to applaud a process that is the very fabric of who we are as an American people — it is to debate real ideas that affect real people day in and day out.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Trump and House GOP leaders were so eager to pass their bill on the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act on Thursday that they failed to make sure they had reached agreement within their own party on what the legislation should do.
“Rookie error, Donald Trump, for bringing this up on a day that it is clearly not ready,” Pelosi said. “You do not bring up your bill just to be spiteful on the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. You build consensus ... not the shortest, quickest monstrosity you can bring to the House floor.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said “essential health benefits” were a “sticking point” in the president’s discussions with Republican lawmakers. Those benefits are 10 services Obamacare plans are required to cover, including prescription drugs, hospitalization and maternity care. Conservatives say insurers shouldn’t be required to offer those benefits.
McConnell said the Senate is eager for the House to pass its bill, so senators can take it up as early as next week.