House Republicans are looking to the White House to shape the text of a new healthcare bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, which they hope to pass as soon as this week after GOP leadership scrapped their first effort in March.
Several House and Senate aides said Tuesday afternoon that they expect new legislation to be presented by the White House within 24 hours, but others were not optimistic that the administration could arrive at something concrete in that time frame.
“I think we’re at a standstill,” one House Republican aide whose member met with senior administration officials at the White House on Monday told the Washington Examiner. “That’s where we’re at right now – [a] holding pattern to see how [House Speaker Paul] Ryan and [President] Trump want to handle it.”
Administration officials have conducted their most recent healthcare negotiations quietly, marking a departure from the closely-followed talks and meetings that characterized the first attempt to pass an Obamacare reform bill.
Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to meet behind the scenes with Ryan and a “small group” of House leaders on Tuesday, an aide told the Examiner.
Pence also huddled with members of the House Freedom Caucus on Monday evening on Capitol Hill, where he and a senior policy staffer took questions from conservative lawmakers, a conservative House source said.
“It’s my understanding that this push is largely White House led,” the Freedom Caucus source said. That source noted that it’s still “too soon to say if it’s enough to get HFC members on board.”
“We really have to see text before that determination can be made, but they were certainly receptive to the idea and appreciate the Vice President candor and time spent explaining it,” the Freedom Caucus aide said of where conservative critics stand on the effort.
Another group of moderate Republicans, including Reps. Greg Walden, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Adam Kinzinger and Martha McSally, were summoned to the White House Monday evening to discuss proposed changes to the legislation.
White House officials have been weighing changes to the bill that would grow its support among conservative critics without losing too many of the members who had signed on to support a more moderate version of Obamacare reform.
Lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington on Friday for a two-week recess, leaving a narrow window for Republicans to advance any healthcare legislation out of the House this week. Congressional leaders have indicated they have no intention of asking members to stay behind and work on a deal if one does not come to fruition by the time the Easter recess begins.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Tuesday that chief of staff Reince Priebus and Pence are leading the negotiations over healthcare reform. Both were involved heavily in the first round of healthcare talks, as were chief strategist Steve Bannon and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
A spokesman for Price declined to comment on the HHS secretary’s level of involvement in the revived Obamacare reform discussions. The White House did not return a request for comment about whether Bannon is participating in the talks.
The deal that began taking shape on Capitol Hill this week focused on two of the Title I regulations preserved by the language of the failed American Health Care Act: the “essential health benefits” requirement, and the “community rating” mandate. The first requires all insurance plans to cover a set of conditions, including pregnancy and maternity care, while the community rating mandate prevents insurance companies from raising the cost of premiums for a group of sick people without raising premiums for healthy people as well.
Conservative lawmakers have argued that leaving such regulations intact would continue to drive up premiums, while moderate Republicans have balked at cutting insurance requirements that they see as necessary protections for their constituents. In particular, critics of the approach have questioned whether removing the community rating regulation will allow insurance companies to hike coverage for sick people, pricing them out of the market and thereby effectively nullifying the requirement that insurance companies offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
Through the deal presently under consideration, states would have the option to seek waivers to exempt them from EHB requirements or community rating regulations if they meet certain standards, but the regulation cuts would not be automatic, Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Spicer said Tuesday that Priebus and Pence have “additional meetings” scheduled with lawmakers in an effort to hammer out a healthcare agreement. The White House declined to comment at this time on who Priebus plans to meet on Tuesday.
Susan Ferrechio contributed to this report.
