The House Budget Committee on Thursday narrowly approved a bill to repeal and partially replace Obamacare, in a vote that highlighted GOP divisions over the major legislation.
The committee voted 19-17 to advance the package to the House Rules Committee, with three Republicans joining all of the committee’s Democrats voting against it.
Republicans voting against it were Reps. Dave Brat of Virginia, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and Gary Palmer of Alabama. All three are members of the House Freedom Caucus. The caucus has vehemently opposed the bill because they say it doesn’t fully repeal Obamacare.
The conservative defections foreshadow a tense negotiating process on the horizon on the bill. The Freedom Caucus is developing its own major amendment to the bill set to be released on Friday.
House Speaker Paul Ryan conceded Wednesday night that the bill would need to be improved after hearing concerns from rank and file lawmakers.
Republicans don’t just have problems with their far-right flank, as moderate GOP lawmakers are also spooked by the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of 24 million people losing insurance over the next decade.
Vice President Pence met with GOP lawmakers on Wednesday to address their concerns. Members of the Republican Study Committee, a group of more than 100 lawmakers, left a meeting with Pence confident their concerns were heard.
The RSC wants to end the Medicaid expansion much earlier, as the current bill leaves it in place until 2020. The RSC wants the expansion to end next year.
