Some House conservatives who publicly oppose their Republican leaders’ plan to repeal and replace Obamacare are asking GOP leaders for one last concession so they can support the bill, and then boast to their constituents about how they drove a hard bargain.
Most members of the House Freedom Caucus—and its leader, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.—are on record trashing the bill. But as pressure from President Trump mounts on them to get in line, many are approaching the whip team to wheel and deal, said two sources in the room at Tuesday morning’s meeting between Trump and the House Republican Conference.
Some of them have already gone on record saying that leadership’s attempts to appease them with Medicaid block grants and work requirements for Medicaid recipients are not enough. However, as Thursday’s vote rapidly approaches, they are asking leaders to give them one more thing so they can vote “yes.”
Trump singled out Meadows during the Tuesday morning meeting, but publicly, he isn’t budging. He told reporters that there are at least 22 members of his caucus who can sink the bill and most haven’t changed their minds.
But he was seen talking to members of the whip team after Trump left the Capitol and signaled he could still be moved into the “yes” column, the source said.
“Mr. Meadows has been upfront with the fact that he’d like to get to ‘yes’ and has been in frequent contact with the White House,” Meadows spokesman Alyssa Farah said in response. “The window for negotiations seems to be closing, and we are not optimistic substantive changes will come—in which case, he’ll continue to be unable to support it.”
Farah held out the possibility that caucus members could win some more concessions from the Rules Committee on Wednesday, thereby possibly securing more “ayes” for leadership.
“[W]e’re essentially seeing how receptive leadership is to changes in Rules,” she said about Wednesday’s meeting, during which the committee will determine the parameters of the debate on the bill and decide which amendments can be offered on the House floor.
Conservatives are finding themselves squeezed between Trump and leadership and outside groups pushing them to hold firm against what they consider “Obamacare-lite.”
For example, the influential political action committee Heritage Action is urging Republicans to vote “no.”
Other Republicans are warning the Freedom Caucus against tanking a bill that would allow the GOP to show voters it can deliver on a long-promised pledge to repeal Obamacare.
“This is a leading indicator about whether we’re going to have a functioning and workable majority,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., who is on the whip team, told the Washington Examiner.
Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., who is not a Freedom Caucus member but is a reliable conservative, said he thinks most will back down.
“I’ll be very surprised if five people vote ‘no” on this,” Grothman told the Washington Examiner.
