House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows on Sunday shrugged off taunts from President Trump, saying that health care reform was still alive and that congressional Republicans would aim to pass legislation for Trump to sign.
Friday’s failure on healthcare legislation, the North Carolina Republican said, does not mean that the effort to replace Obamacare is dead.
“To put a stake in it today would not be accurate,” the North Carolina Repubican said on ABC’s This Week, explaining that the intra-party conversations in the past two days have been about regrouping on healthcare.
He said that it will be the responsibility of conservatives, like him, and moderates to unite around a replacement measure.
On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted out criticism of the Freedom Caucus for rallying opposition to the healthcare legislation from the right. Meadows was a leader in that effort, negotiating unsuccessfully with Trump to change the bill.
Nevertheless, Meadows still said he believes in Trump’s leadership. “The most valuable player will be Donald Trump on this,” he said. “He will deliver.”
