Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
GOP Doesn't Have The Votes Locked Up Yet To Guarantee Health Plan Will Pass
As the House of Representatives prepares to vote Thursday on an Obamacare replacement聽plan, there is still聽enough Republican opposition in Congress to kill the bill. Assuming no Democrats support the measure, Republicans can lose聽two votes in the Senate and聽21 votes in the House. (Phillips, 3/21)
The GOP health care bill appears poised for failure with at least 19 Republicans committed to voting 鈥渘o,鈥 absent additional substantial changes, and several more likely to join them in opposition. This reality seems to be sinking in with GOP leaders, as they have started discussions with the House Freedom Caucus that accounts for most of the current opposition to the bill. However, neither leadership, nor the Freedom Caucus would say serious negotiations about changes were underway Tuesday night. (McPherson and Rahman, 3/22)
House GOP leaders are trying to navigate the concerns of competing factions to win enough support for their 颅ObamaCare repeal-and-replace measure ahead of a crucial Thursday vote...The conservative House Freedom Caucus remains the chief obstacle to passage of the bill. Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said after the group met Tuesday afternoon that there are 鈥渨ithout a doubt鈥 still not enough votes to pass the healthcare legislation. (Sullivan, Hellmann and Hagen, 3/21)
A familiar group of conservative rebels stands between House Speaker Paul Ryan and his goal of passing an Obamacare repeal measure on Thursday: the House Freedom Caucus. The group said Tuesday it has enough votes to block the measure, arguing that it鈥檚 not a complete enough repeal of the health-care law, and Thursday鈥檚 vote could be the first sign of whether the caucus will be able to enforce its conservative principles in the age of Donald Trump. (John and House, 3/21)
The GOP health care debate has quickly become a battle of wills between the House Freedom Caucus and Republican leadership in the House and White House. And if the vote proceeds as planned on Thursday without changes to the bill, it will be a battle over reputations. Absent a compromise between the conservative caucus and House leadership and/or the President Donald Trump and his administration, one of the two sides will emerge from Thursday鈥檚 vote significantly scathed. 鈥淲ithout a doubt; it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise,鈥 Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said when asked if the caucus鈥 hand would be weakened in future negotiations if the bill passes without conservatives鈥 concerns being heard. (McPherson, 3/22)
Heritage Action will negatively score votes in favor of the House's ObamaCare repeal bill, the conservative group said Tuesday.聽The House is set to vote on the GOP health plan Thursday. The measure is opposed by many conservatives because it does not repeal ObamaCare's regulations and insurer requirements. (Hellmann, 3/21)
NPR and dozens of member stations have been collecting public statements from members of Congress to help the public understand where lawmakers stand on this issue. (Neely, 3/10)
Less than two days before they are scheduled to vote, a handful of California鈥檚 14 Republican members of Congress say they are still weighing how to vote on the GOP plan to undo and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. California鈥檚 38 House Democrats have lined up pretty firmly against the bill, as have most of the chamber鈥檚 Democrats, so Republicans are on their own to pass the bill. House Republicans can afford to lose up to 20 members and still pass it with a simple majority. (Wire, 3/21)
Suspense was the word of the day outside of the U.S. House chamber Tuesday, as Republicans scrambled to figure out which members of their caucus opposed the plan to overhaul former President Obama's health care law that聽Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump aim to put to a vote on Thursday.聽Republicans across the board are bracing for, as one Texas delegation staffer put it, a "squeaker" of a vote margin 鈥 if the bill even makes it to the floor. With Democrats uniformly opposed to the proposed legislation, Ryan and his lieutenants 鈥 including some Texans 鈥 have little wiggle room to negotiate policy differences between the GOP's hardliners and moderates. (Livingston, 3/21)
Senate Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin expressed deep skepticism Tuesday about the Obamacare replacement bill his party is struggling to pass in the U.S. House this week...聽Johnson鈥檚 qualms about a plan championed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, his fellow Wisconsin Republican, underscore the challenges Republicans face in getting a health care measure to President Donald Trump鈥檚 desk, despite their control of both chambers. (Gilbert, 3/21)
U.S. Rep. Martha聽McSally signaled support for the revised Republican health care bill Monday, but聽the plan's passage remained uncertain as it headed toward a key vote Thursday in the House or Representatives. In a statement Monday night, McSally, a two-term Arizona Republican, said the bill backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan "is not perfect and I still have concerns," but she indicated she was working to strengthen that plan. (Hansen, 3/21)
Iowa Republican Representative Rod Blum said Tuesday he will not support the House GOP鈥檚 health care plan in its current form. The 1st District congressman tweeted that the American Health Care Act 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 do enough to lower premiums for hardworking Americans.鈥 (Sostaric, 3/21)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is urging House Republicans to cancel the vote slated for Thursday to pass their healthcare plan, saying the proposal won't pass in its current form. 鈥淚 am strongly, strongly聽persuaded that it is not going to pass.聽I think they should cancel the聽vote because they don't have the聽votes,鈥 Lee said during an interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum. (Beavers, 3/21)
To witness the political tug-of-war in Congress over repealing the Affordable Care Act, tune into the TV or the radio, or go online, in Miami-Dade County. Ads for and against 鈥 but mostly against 鈥 House Republicans鈥 health plan have gone up over the past week, with two new campaigns launched Tuesday. (Mazzei, 3/21)
North Florida Congressman Neil Dunn hosted a nearly four hour town hall meeting in Panama City this weekend. Dominating the conversation: Dunn鈥檚 view on Congress鈥 plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The conversation between Dunn and his constituents was at times emotional.(Hatter, 3/21)
House Republicans are expected to clear the way Wednesday for a Thursday vote on the GOP鈥檚 Obamacare overhaul. 鈥淭his is our chance and this is our moment,鈥 House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday after President Trump made a personal pitch to GOP lawmakers to pass the bill. 鈥淚 think our members are beginning to appreciate just what kind of a rendezvous with destiny we have right here.鈥 (Groppe, 3/22)
Each weekday morning, groggy aides pile into House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy鈥檚 conference room and suit up for battle. No pastries. Bring your own coffee. The niceties are limited. (Mascaro, 3/21)
House Republican leaders have changed their healthcare reform bill to please both conservative and moderate members of their party. (Meyer, 3/21)
Lawmakers in both parties clashed Tuesday over a new proposal aimed at helping older people pay for health coverage under the House GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Republicans say lowering the amount individuals can deduct from their taxes for medical expenses could provide $75 billion. But Democrats dubbed it a "slush fund" that may never provide funding for its intended use. Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said a new provision in the manager鈥檚 amendment for the bill (HR 1628) that would repeal and replace parts of the 2010 health care overhaul (PL 111-148, PL 111-152) would provide fiscal flexibility needed to build consensus in the House and increase prospects for advancement in the Senate. (Ota, 3/21)
Some conservatives in Washington were fuming on Tuesday after an Obamacare rollback bill was tweaked by Republican leaders to delete a provision meant to crack down on illegal immigrants getting federal healthcare insurance coverage. (Ainsley and Abutaleb, 3/21)
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is committing almost $250,000 to a series of digital ads meant to pressure vulnerable Democratic senators into agreeing to an "up-or-down vote" on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee and to gin up support for the GOP healthcare plan working its way through Congress. The ad buy, provided exclusively to The Hill, is made up of three separate ads 鈥 two on healthcare and one on Judge Neil Gorsuch's confirmation 鈥 that will run on social media. The buy shows a coordinated effort by the party to support two of the key priorities shared by the White House. (Kamisar, 3/21)