Conservatives on health care bill: Negotiations are over
Conservatives on health care bill: Negotiations are over
Story highlights
- Trump will visit House Republicans Tuesday
- A vote on the bill to repeal and replace part of the Affordable Care Act is set for Thursday
Washington (CNN)After
a frenzy of closed-door meetings, intense lobbying and political
posturing, conservative lawmakers threw up their hands Monday and
declared: The negotiations surrounding the Republican health care bill
are over.
The acknowledgment
comes just days out from an expected House vote on the GOP legislation
to gut Obamacare, and puts further pressure on undecided conservatives
to take an official stance on their party's landmark proposal.
Conservative
senators hoping for changes to the Republican health care bill emerged
from a meeting at the White House Monday afternoon disappointed, with
Sen. Mike Lee describing the meeting as "terribly frustrating."
President
Donald Trump, GOP leaders and White House officials have been working
furiously to try to win over dissatisfied lawmakers in recent days, and
even made some last-minute legislative concessions to move the bill to
the right. The effective conclusion of negotiations means that it is now
time for House Republicans to get in line — or vote against a bill that
has the President's seal of approval.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows will be voting against the bill, his spokesman Ben Williamson told CNN.
"We've gotten the vibe that the negotiations have closed," Williamson said.
Meadows
told reporters Monday that the caucus will not take "official
positions" on the health care vote -- which could signal that leadership
is picking off some votes from members of the conservative group.
But after a meeting with the group Monday night, Meadows insisted there were enough "no" votes to sink the bill.
"I'm confident that we have still enough concerns that a vote of 216 votes in the House would not happen today," Meadows said.
GOP
Rep. Raul Labrador said that now that leaders and the White House are
indicating that no major changes will be added to the bill, "it means
the bill is going to fail." Asked if he was confident it couldn't pass
on Thursday, he responded: "I'm confident."
"We don't believe that they have 216 votes in fact we know that they don't have 216 votes," Labrador said flatly.
Lee,
a Utah Republican, and other conservatives were making a last-minute
pitch to Trump officials and House leaders to revise the bill. But the
White House made it clear the bill is closed, a Lee aide said.
Thursday's
vote to repeal and replace Obamacare will be one of the most
consequential moments for the GOP this year — as well as for Trump's
first months in the White House.
Trump
will personally rally the troops Tuesday morning, attending a
closed-door House GOP conference meeting on Capitol Hill to make a final
pitch to his colleagues.
Final changes from House Republican leaders are expected to be unveiled Monday night.
Counting the votes
The GOP leadership's most urgent priority: Make sure they have the votes, changing the bill if necessary.
The whip count operation is now in "full motion," a senior GOP aide told CNN Monday morning.
In
the final days leading up to the vote, leaders are hashing out
adjustments to the bill that they unveiled two weeks ago. These
modifications are a crucial aspect of the whipping process -- possible
concessions are being carefully considered to try to win over lawmakers
who are still on the fence.
One
change that a senior GOP source said is likely to be included: language
that would immediately prevent states from expanding Medicaid.
Under
the first version of the legislation, enhanced funding for Medicaid
would be repealed as of January 1, 2020. But senior Republicans are now
preparing to include language that would explicitly prevent states from
expanding the program before that time -- a concession to conservative
lawmakers.
Another change that's
being worked on: Expanding tax credits to older Americans. The details
are still unclear, but it is an effort to calm worried GOP lawmakers who
fear that the GOP health care bill would result in a spike of premiums
for their constituents in their 50s and early 60s.
Last
week, the White House also announced after Trump's meeting with members
of the conservative Republican Study Committee that they had agreed to
include in the House legislation optional Medicaid work requirements as
well as the choice for states to block grant the program.
These
changes are expected to be included in a package of amendments to be
considered before the House Rules Committee on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, HHS Secretary Tom Price acknowledged the challenge House GOP leaders are confronting in getting the majority of their conference behind the health care bill.
"It's a fine needle that needs to be thread. There's no doubt about it," he said.
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