Rep. Mark Walker went to the White House Friday and said he got a definitive answer from President Trump on whether he supports the Republican bill to repeal Obamacare.
“He said I am 100 percent in,” the North Carolina Republican told reporters Friday after the meeting.
Walker then paused and quickly clarified.
“Actually, he used 1,000 percent.”
The meeting on Friday with members of the conservative Republican Study Committee, which Walker leads, was part of a larger effort by the White House to send a message to skeptical Republicans that Trump backs the bill. The Republican leadership is pushing for a Thursday House vote on the legislation, which has received pushback from conservatives and moderates.
Trump touted the result of the meeting and that he secured a “yes” vote from the 13 members of the RSC who visited Friday morning. House leadership was ebullient after the meeting but said it is reaching out to more moderate members to discuss their concerns, hinting that more work needs to be done to ensure passage.
Key to getting the study committee leadership’s support was two major additions to the bill: mandatory work requirements for Medicaid and giving states the choice between per capita caps or block grants for federal Medicaid funding.
Walker was enthused about the meeting’s results, calling the block grant addition a “big win for conservatives.”
But he said he could not speak for the entire 170-plus members of the group, noting that only the 13 members at the White House said they would support the plan.
“I am just speaking on behalf of the steering committee,” he said. Walker added that the RSC has members who bleed either into the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus or the moderate Tuesday Group.
However, one member with dual membership in the Freedom Caucus and RSC is now on board: Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala. Palmer voted against the bill in the House Budget Committee on Thursday.
House Whip Steve Scalise said Palmer’s switch was a key indicator of where the caucus is and whether the bill can pass the House.
“That’s a major, major move forward,” Scalise said.
Scalise sounded confident that the GOP will get the 218 votes needed for passage in the House. Democrats are expected to unanimously oppose the legislation, which means Republicans can afford only 21 defections.
“These [Medicaid] changes definitely strengthen our number and they also show that the president is all in now,” Scalise said.
The conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has about 40 members, hasn’t changed its opposition. The caucus is drafting an amendment to the bill, expected Monday, that members have said will be focused on driving down premiums.
A spokesman said a majority of the caucus remains opposed to the bill “as is.”
The leadership doesn’t have a problem with just its right flank.
Moderate Republicans are concerned about the tax credits that would be used to help pay for insurance. A senior not old enough to qualify for Medicare can get about twice the amount of a tax credit a younger person gets ($4,000 for someone over 60 compared to $2,000 for someone in their 20s). But because of another change in the AHCA, insurers could charge seniors five times the amount they charge a younger person. That would be an increase from the 300 percent difference in Obamacare.
Some GOP lawmakers have been calling for boosting the tax credits for seniors with low incomes.
“The biggest concern is … that those less vulnerable are left without options,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. He added that those vulnerable people include “poor folks who are between 55 and 64.”
The White House is reaching out to moderates and other skeptics to shore up support.
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., told the Washington Examiner that he met with Vice President Mike Pence when he visited the Capitol this week.
Wittman is concerned not only about the tax credits for low-income seniors but also the omission of a provision that allows insurers to sell plans across state lines. That measure is expected to be in future legislation.
“I always have issues with saying, ‘Well, the success of this bill is always predicated on another bill passing,'” Wittman said.
That measure wasn’t included in the current legislation because the GOP is trying to repeal Obamacare using an arcane pathway in the Senate called reconciliation. Any bill passed under reconciliation must focus only the budget and spending but can pass via a simple 51-vote majority.
A bill that lets insurers sell plans across state lines would require 60 votes, a tall order for the chamber.
But Wittman said he wants the GOP to try to push what can be included in the bill.
“You have to push the envelope on what can and cannot do in the Senate reconciliation rules,” he said.
To help assuage concerns about measures the bill doesn’t include and to shore up more support, the White House sent Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about what can be done via regulation.
The Trump administration aims to use its regulatory power to release a market stabilization rule by mid-April and other rules to ease the health benefit requirements that insurers must offer on the individual market.
The full-court press from the White House comes at a critical juncture for the American Health Care Act.
The House Rules Committee is expected to take up the bill on Wednesday night in preparation for a Thursday vote. The changes to Medicaid are expected to be included in a manager’s amendment to the bill.
Scalise wouldn’t divulge what the House vote count is, which was taken earlier this week. Some lawmakers have said it was better than the leadership expected.
The Senate hopes to pass the legislation before it heads to its two-week Easter recess April 6.
But Senate passage also appears far from a sure thing. Three Republican senators have said they won’t support the current version, albeit for different reasons: Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Dean Heller of Nevada.
