Ahead of a meeting Wednesday between Republican opponents of the American Health Care Act and President Trump, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said roughly 10 of his colleagues had traveled to the White House to express their “myriad” concerns about the healthcare bill and joked that he was “bringing them to the closer,” referring to Trump.
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, also attended the meeting Wednesday at the White House.
Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials have conducted a series of meetings and phone calls with Republican lawmakers as they work to shore up support for the Obamacare reform legislation before it heads to a floor vote on Thursday.
Amid growing conservative opposition, the vote on the AHCA is expected to be tight. Republicans can only afford to lose 22 of their own if they hope to send the healthcare bill to the Senate, and the number of members who have announced their intention to vote “no” on the legislation has inched closer to that threshold every day this week.
Trump dismissed questions Wednesday about what he would do if the AHCA fails in the House.
“We’ll see what happens,” the president said before a women’s healthcare panel on Wednesday morning.
Trump’s strong backing of the Obamacare reform bill and his personal involvement in guiding it through Congress has raised the stakes of his first legislative battle considerably. The president warned members of the House GOP conference on Tuesday that their failure to pass the AHCA on Thursday could portend failure for the rest of the Republican legislative agenda, which includes tax cuts and immigration reform.
