In the final hours before the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare was expected to come to a vote, the House Freedom Caucus had a place at the negotiating table with President Trump.
The group of conservative lawmakers had already succeeded in delaying a planned vote on the American Health Care Act Thursday, after separate meetings Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., produced no deal.
“We have not gotten enough of our members to get to yes at this point under what we’re currently considering,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters.
Meadows had been the target of Trump’s barbs earlier in the week. “I’m coming after you,” the president warned him. White House press secretary Sean Spicer later said Trump was joking.
There was little evidence Meadows’ allies were intimidated. “I think his call-out only emboldened” conservatives, one congressional aide said.
Now the House conservatives and their Senate allies may hold the fate of Obamacare — and the Republican vision of healthcare reform — in their hands. Trump is signaling it is time to move on if a bill can’t be passed Friday.
It’s a long way from the group’s first big victory, getting House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to surrender his gavel in 2015. When Democrats passed Obamacare in the first place, they primarily negotiated with their moderates. The Freedom Caucus has managed to get Trump to try to negotiate to his right.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., came to visit Freedom Caucus members wielding copies of Trump’s book The Art of the Deal and appearing before placards containing quotations about deal-making from the future president.
“The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it,” one read. “That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”
Conservative insurgents insisted that not only was the House bill not a full repeal of Obamacare as Republicans had promised — and passed in 2015 — but it would not lower insurance premiums or adequately address voters’ healthcare concerns.
Outside conservative organizations hailed the delay. “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 FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon.
Exasperated supporters of the legislation accused conservative holdouts of moving the goalposts and frustrating the GOP’s best chance to unwind Obamacare’s spending and taxes. They acknowledged that the Freedom Caucus was good at blowing things up but questioned whether they could govern.
Questions have been raised about Trump’s negotiating prowess and Ryan’s leadership on Obamacare repeal. Yet a final vote on the healthcare bill could also be a test of the conservatives’ ability to not only influence the Republican conference but shape successful legislation and get things done.
“I’m desperately trying to get to yes, and I think the president knows that, I told him that personally,” Meadows told reporters Thursday. He credited Trump with “engagement” that is “unparalleled.”
Process concerns also remain with Friday votes looming. “We must have the opportunity to read and understand the final bill before we vote,” Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., tweeted. “It’s irresponsible to do otherwise.”
Even if the House advances the latest version of the bill, Trump and Republican leaders will face similar challenges in keeping both moderates and conservatives on board in the Senate. But the bill will have cleared a hurdle — and so might the Freedom Caucus.
