Combined Democratic and Republican opposition threatens to sink the Republican Obamacare replacement, which is expected to get a vote tomorrow.
House conservatives say they have the votes to bring down a Republican plan to replace Obamacare, threatening a core piece of President Donald Trump's agenda and sparking a frantic, 11th-hour pressure campaign by the president and House GOP leaders.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus, claimed Wednesday that 25 of his colleagues would reject the House's health care plan, exceeding the 22 Republican "no" votes necessary to block the legislation. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has scheduled a Thursday vote on the bill, but several Freedom Caucus members and their Senate allies urged him to postpone the vote and go back to the negotiating table.
In a last-ditch effort to persuade key GOP opponents of the bill to stand down, Vice President Pence huddled with members of the House Freedom Caucus in his office Wednesday morning, while Trump met with 18 House Republicans at the White House.
While Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who met with Trump, came out in favor of the bill Wednesday, that single switch was not enough to put the measure over the top. GOP leaders can afford only 22 defections, given that one Democrat is expected to be absent Thursday. A Freedom Caucus spokeswoman said Wednesday that “more than 25” members of the group oppose the bill.
The caucus’s message, spokeswoman Alyssa Farah tweeted, is “start over.”
The president:
Big day for healthcare. Working hard!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2017
The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the Republican health care plan could result in 24 million fewer insured people across the country by 2016. More than half a million of those people could be in Washington state, yet members of our Congressional delegation are still defending the plan. See who stands where here.
