Hours away from a critical vote, House Republicans still don’t enough support within their own conference to pass a bill that would partially repeal and replace Obamacare.
That’s the word from the House floor Friday morning as Republican leaders and the Trump administration scramble to convince enough lawmakers to support a GOP plan that has split the House conference into increasingly bitter factions.
“I’m still a no,” Rep. Walter Jones, R-S.C., told the Washington Examiner as he left the House chamber following a procedural vote related to the bill. Jones was one of six lawmakers to vote against their GOP leaders in that procedural vote.
Republican leaders have scheduled a vote on passing the repeal and replace measure to take place before 5 p.m., telling lawmakers in a late-night meeting Thursday they would bring it to the floor “pass or fail.” That plan came directly from President Trump, who is ready to move onto tax reform and other agenda items either way.
Passage is looking increasingly tough, however.
Even the House whip machine has abandoned staunch holdouts like Jones. In an early morning phone conversation, Jones told a staffer for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., “I just don’t want to waste his time.”
Jones said out of hundreds of constituent calls and emails to his office, only a handful of people want him to vote for the bill.
And so far, a move by GOP leaders late Thursday to amend the bill to appease conservatives appears to have made little difference.
The GOP leadership moved to strip out Obamacare’s “essential benefits” which conservative said is needed to lower the cost of health insurance. But it may in fact have cost them support from more moderate conservatives who want those benefits to stay in. It underscores the nearly impossible task of writing a bill that appeals to the GOP’s broad political spectrum.
Additionally, the move to modify the bill, which included a provision extending a 0.9 percent Medicare surtax on high-income earners, seems not to have helped build support among several dozen conservatives like Jones who oppose the measure.
“I don’t see anybody who was a no yesterday changing today,” Jones said.
Republican leaders and the Trump administration are not giving up yet. More meetings are scheduled today between GOP holdouts and Trump administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, a former Republican House lawmaker.
Vice President Mike Pence is also meeting with members, according to a senior leadership aide.
The House whip team is still hoping for a miracle.
“In my heart of hearts, I think it passes,” Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a member of the whip team, told the Washington Examiner.
Collins said he is pressuring House Republicans opposed to the bill. “I’m saying that I’m very disappointed in our team that is not on board.”
In the hallways, some Republican lawmakers leaving the chamber and heading back to their offices after the procedural vote held out hope Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will pull the bill instead of watching it fail.
But GOP leaders showed no signs of backing down. The bill moved ahead on the House floor even as Republicans complained about it in the hallways a few feet away.
“The day is finally here where we have an opportunity to fulfill the promise we’ve made to the American people,” House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black, R-Tenn., said opening the debate on the measure. “I, for one, cannot sit idly by and let this opportunity go to waste. Campaigning is easy, compared to governing. But our constituents did not elect us to do what is easy. They elected us to do what is right.”
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said it was time for the Freedom Caucus and other potential no votes to get on board.
“These guys have to come to terms that this is our moment to repeal and replace Obamacare,” said Walker, head of the Republican Study Committee.
But Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., said he is still a no vote on the bill. He left the procedural vote on the House floor to talk with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and seemed to indicate he wasn’t ready to flip his vote.
“He has some information he wants me to listen to. I am just gonna go by and meet with him,” he said.
Some predicted that the changes already won by the Freedom Caucus would still turn the tide.
“The Freedom Caucus has made a tremendous stride so far and right now I don’t think the day is over yet,” said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.
Franks also noted that Freedom Caucus members have already been hit by Trump on Twitter, who said voting against the bill would allow ongoing funding for Planned Parenthood, the healthcare provide that also provides abortions.
“If the bill goes down, indeed, it could allow Planned Parenthood to continue to be funded which would be a tragedy,” he said. “There is no one in the Freedom Caucus that has anything but disdain and utter contempt for the organization.”
Republicans aren’t really prepared for what happens if the bill fails. Walker said that he has “no idea because we have not discussed plan B.”
