House Republicans were bracing themselves to hear complaints from angry voters over the two-week Easter recess, after the GOP failed twice to agree on and pass a bill to repeal Obamacare.
Many Republicans are set to meet with constituents throughout the next two weeks, including at town halls — which have become dreaded by many within the GOP — and at smaller events many say are more constructive and worthwhile. No matter the setting though, members are worried that they will have to answer to voters who will be mad that no bill has passed yet, as well as voters who oppose the effort to dismantle Obamacare.
“Well, I think there will be some. I think there’s some concerns. They want to see us work on that,” said Doug Collins, R-Ga., a member of the House Rules Committee.
“But I think also, in the bigger picture, I think the question is are we doing what we need to do to get it right and take into the concerns from members of the caucus, and I think that’s what we’re doing,” Collins said. “As long as we’re showing the progress that is being worked on, then we’ll have that, and if we have an agreement, we’ll be back here quicker than we think.”
Many Republicans within the party have become reluctant to hold town halls after attendees started to shout down members at events soon after Trump took office. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, was hit with chants of “Do your job!” at one event in February, which came from voters who wanted him to conduct oversight of the new Trump administration.
But many will still hold these events during the two-week break. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, will hold one in Sun City, S.C., over the break, and is not worried about heat from constituents.
“No, that’s what we’re supposed to do,” Sanford told the Washington Examiner. “It’s not in a state of limbo. It’s the legislative process in action, which is a process of continued refinement.”
Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, believes members will not be overwhelmed by constituents over the next two weeks and pointed to the Obamacare debate, which lasted more than a year.
“It took Democrats a year to get Obamacare passed. We have a bill that came out of [the Ways and Means] Committee and [the Energy and Commerce Committee]. We have had members to try to improve upon that,” he said. “I think most of our members can handle this situation pretty well,” referring to constituent frustration.
The recess comes after a recent round of meetings within the GOP in an effort to get healthcare reform across the finish line. Vice President Mike Pence and White House staff members met with leaders of the Republican Study Committee, the Freedom Caucus and the Tuesday Group earlier this week, but were unable to strike a deal.
At the moment, the main sticking point to getting a deal is what to do about Obamacare’s insurance regulations. Freedom Caucus members want to eliminate mandates for insurers to cover preexisting conditions and minimum essential health benefits, and abide by price controls that force them to charge healthy and sick people the same rate.
However, repealing those regulations have cost support from centrist Republicans.
The divide caused the House GOP leadership to pull the American Health Care Act on March 24 as leadership couldn’t get enough support from centrists or the Freedom Caucus.
On Monday, the White House floated a new compromise that would allow states to opt out of certain insurance regulations. However, legislative text is yet to be finalized and the White House missed its goal of getting a new vote before lawmakers left on Thursday.
Just before the recess, the House Rules committee passed an amendment to the bill that would fund new high-risk pools, which would let states subsidize coverage for people with preexisting conditions. The move was an olive branch to centrist members who were worried about giving states the chance to get rid of the preexisting condition and price controls mandates.
Even though lawmakers are going home, they could come back later in the week if there is a breakthrough. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Republicans in a memo distributed Thursday that lawmakers could return if a deal comes together.
