Conservative activists are hopeful that the Trump administration could pressure House Republican leaders to allow changes to the contentious Obamacare reform legislation presently making its way through committees.
At a closed-door meeting Friday between Vice President Mike Pence, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and more than two dozen conservative grassroots leaders, Pence and Price were told that allowing amendments on the American Health Care Act was the best way to help it overcome conservative opposition in the House, according to several meeting attendees.
“One of the points that was made was, in a sense, why are we in here if there’s no amendments going to be allowed?” David Bozell, president of ForAmerica, told the Washington Examiner.
“There is mixed messages. The White House and the administration seem open to conservative policy prescriptions,” Bozell said. “Capitol Hill is a different story.”
A White House official told the Washington Examiner that Trump’s team is “open” to new ideas, but stressed that it’s a priority for this bill to pass.
“We are open to ideas that would strengthen the bill, but the president is committed to this bill being the vehicle to repeal and replace Obamacare,” the official said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan urged Republicans this week to embrace the Obamacare replacement bill in its current form, arguing that GOP lawmakers face a “binary choice” between supporting the AHCA or failing to repeal Obamacare altogether.
But conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus, at least three Republican senators and a number of outside conservative groups have suggested that the bill must be tweaked before it can attract enough unified GOP support to pass.
“I got the sense there’s going to be some pressure from the White House to go back to Paul Ryan and say: ‘You’ve got to work with the Freedom Caucus,'” said Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks. “Those are the folks who are going to be offering the most amendments.”
A number of Freedom Caucus members — including Reps. Mark Meadows, Jim Jordon and Dave Brat — have argued the bill does not do enough to lower costs or remove the framework of Obamacare.
Brandon said conservative opposition to the AHCA as written could prove fatal to the plan, which the White House has publicly endorsed.
“I’m just getting the sense from who I’m talking to in the House and the Senate: the current bill is not going to pass,” he said.
Administration officials have worked to soothe skeptical Republicans by promising that the bill introduced in the House this week represents just the first of three phases that will ultimately make up its Obamacare repeal and replace strategy. Price said Tuesday that the second phase will focus on “regulatory modification” and the third will involve additional legislation that will proceed through regular order. Republicans intend to achieve “phase one,” the AHCA, through budget reconciliation.
Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, confirmed that Price and Pence seemed “open to changes in the current bill” during the private meeting on Friday.
“I think the thing that seeemed a bit new about it is that Secretary Price is working right now on the regulatuions,” Martin said of the meeting. Along with a handful of other conservative leaders, Martin also met privately with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
“They did say that Secretary Price is already working through what can happen with the regulations and that each of the phases are happening simultaneously,” Martin said. “It’s not one or the other.”
Republican critics of the healthcare reform bill have pushed for an amendment that would hasten the end of the Medicaid expansion created by Obamacare. The current bill sunsets Medicaid expansion in 2020.
Conservative opponents have also objected to the tax credits included in the AHCA, arguing the credits amount to a new and massive entitlement program.
Trump and Pence worked this week to shore up Republican support for the Obamacare reform plan by holding a series of meetings with the bill’s most vocal critics. Many who met privately with the president and vice president came away with the impression that Trump is receptive to potential changes to the legislation, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that the administration would welcome suggestions for “improvements” to the policy.
