Representative Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and Representative Tom MacArthur (R-New Jersey), co-chairman of the centrist Tuesday Group, have spoken to Ryan’s office and to Vice President Mike Pence about the next steps in the overhaul process, according to The Hill.
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In the House, a group of conservatives, led by the Freedom Caucus, is expected to oppose the spending bill now being negotiated in private, bipartisan talks. Other items on the White House priority list, Mulvaney said, are a $30 billion request for a cash infusion for the military and a controversial provision to give the administration greater latitude to deny certain federal grants to “sanctuary cities” that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement by federal authorities. “But I suspect it might get some folks on board that maybe weren’t before”.
In short, some leaders in the GOP conference might think they have a deal, but they also might have just found a way to make the bill even more unpalatable for Republicans, thus bringing Congress no closer at all.
“We have the leverage and they have the exposure”, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said during a conference call with other Democrats on Thursday. “He has insisted during these discussions that any legislation must have protections for pre-existing conditions”, his office wrote on a social media post Thursday. “Are you shocked to hear that?” “Some of the folks in leadership – they’ve been burned so many times they’re afraid to be optimistic”, he said. But the official cautioned that some GOP House members are still at odds over some of the bill’s sticking points. “And fortunately for us, I think the appetite to really get this done continues to grow”. “I’d like to say next week”.
Democrats responded harshly to Mulvaney’s suggestion that they get in touch with the White House, noting that talks with Republicans on Capitol Hill are ongoing and that some members of the GOP don’t want the White House to interfere.
But there are significant obstacles.
“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast”.
MacArthur is trying to shore up moderate support for the bill with his amendment, which would reinstate the health-care law’s “essential health benefits”, a list of federally mandated health services that marketplace plans must cover.
But Rodney Whitlock – vice president of health policies at ML strategies and former Republican staffer – told NPR there will be language allowing people hurt by a state’s health care policies to sue the state. Many states used high-risk pools before Obamacare with limited success because they weren’t adequately funded, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. “We want more money for defense”. States would be able to set up high risk pools for the most costly people to insure with the goal of bringing down the cost of insurance for healthier individuals.
The White House is pushing hard on the GOP-led Congress to pass a bill repealing and replacing much of President Barack Obama’s health-care law, as Republicans have vowed to do for years. NPR’s White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Much of the coverage loss stemmed from the reductions to Medicaid. A draft framework being circulated this week would pretend to keep the parts of Obamacare that people like, but allow the states to take these benefits away.
A new Quinnipiac poll found that only 36% of American voters say Republicans in Congress should try again to repeal and replace Obamacare, while 60% say the Republicans should “move on”.
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It’s unclear what states would even seek to opt out, particularly as the Trump administration has already offered “innovation waivers” to help states pursue health care alternatives to the ACA.
