White House pressures GOP leaders on Obamacare showdown next week

The White House does not schedule House floor votes. And while some senior administration officials suggested Thursday that a vote will occur next week, multiple House GOP sources told POLITICO that is unlikely.

Indeed, the vote is not currently on the calendar. Nor do Republican insiders think it’s even possible, as Congress will reconvene Tuesday after a two-week Easter recess. That would leave them with one day to whip votes — an unlikely time frame for such a heavy legislative lift.

“The question is whether it can get 216 votes in the House, and the answer isn't clear at this time,” a senior GOP aide said. “There is no legislative text and therefore no agreement to do a whip count on.”

The conflicting narratives suggest top administration officials and House Republican leaders are either miscommunicating — or, more likely, that White House sources are squeezing Speaker Paul Ryan and his team, telling them to move quickly. Notably, the same senior White House officials who suggested a vote would occur next week also said the text of a new deal will likely be circulated Friday "or by the weekend."

The claim perplexed some GOP insiders who don’t expect legislative text for a few days, at the earliest.

The back-and-forth highlights just how impatient Trump is growing with Congress. Administration officials are feeling inordinate pressure to advance the legislation out of the House, fearing that failure to repeal the health care law will dominate coverage of the administration's first 100 days, which end next week, officials say.

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Rogue Valley said:

Good healthcare isn't a consideration. The only thing Trump cares about is blabbering that he got x/y/z done withing his first 100 days.

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Greenbeard said:

Turns out an increasingly "frantic" Trump administration is trying desperately to resuscitate the awful American Health Care Act. They apparently continue to believe that making it even worse will bring it back from the dead. As long as they do it fast enough that there are no hearings on it, no debate on it, no one sees the text of the changes to it, and no CBO score is produced (makes sense, given that the last CBO score found the GOP's bill stripping 24 million people of their insurance and spiking premiums over the next two years).

And yet despite Trump bizarrely claiming today the House will pass something next week, the House doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. Which is a shame, because the last time they tried this was so much fun.

White House pressures GOP leaders on Obamacare showdown next week

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reinoe said:

Trump is holding them accountable even when the voters won't. The GOP congress said they'd do something and after 7 years they should do it. Trump is taking this approach too much like a business though. In business you can do stuff like that. In government, healthcare is a real stinker and a loser though. He can't drop it though because the tax cuts can't be done without healthcare reform. It's an interesting dilemma he's forcing the GOP leadership into. And if it reflects poorly on them then it's their own fault for not having a plan after dithering for 7 years.

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reinoe said:

Trump is holding them accountable even when the voters won't.

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reinoe said:

Trump is holding them accountable even when the voters won't. The GOP congress said they'd do something and after 7 years they should do it. Trump is taking this approach too much like a business though. In business you can do stuff like that. In government, healthcare is a real stinker and a loser though. He can't drop it though because the tax cuts can't be done without healthcare reform. It's an interesting dilemma he's forcing the GOP leadership into. And if it reflects poorly on them then it's their own fault for not having a plan after dithering for 7 years.

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Greenbeard said:

He lied about having his own plan he was putting the finishing touches on three months ago. Who will hold him accountable?

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ttwtt78640 said:

Nope, even in business you must actually have a plan - simply commanding others to come up with a really great idea (plan?) that saves the company (or country) money and makes everyone happy is not a call for specific action. Folks have to admit that there is no "TrumpCare" plan at all and that any replacement for (renaming of?) PPACA must continue based on the idea that federally subsidized medical care, once given to the states or the people, cannot be taken away without severe political cost.

Step one of repeal and replace is to get all of that toothpaste back into the tube and Trump (like Ryan) has no clue how to do that so the "TrumpCare" plan is to simply command congress critters to tweak PPACA a bit while promising to add really fantastic stuff in future phases.

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reinoe said:

Trump isn't asking Congress to come up with a plan. Congress has said they had a plan for years. It's not his fault they're liars.

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danarhea said:

I'm going to defend the House Republicans on this one. Obamacare is so entrenched that the OMB has stated repealing it will cause another recession. The House Republicans know that, and also know that they will be held responsible for it if it happens. Paul Ryan pulled the last attempt to repeal from the floor before it came to a vote because many Republicans would have voted no. That bill was way short of enough votes for it to pass. Obamacare is here to stay. But there is an alternative known as a single payer system that would work much better than Obamacare. Trump and the Republicans can be heroes and ensure a second term by pushing that through. Despite my reservations towards Trump, and there are many, he could very well get my vote in 2020 if he does that.

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tres borrachos said:

He'll get your vote if he pushes through single payer (I want to understand what you're saying)?

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ttwtt78640 said:

There is no plan except the desire of many republicants to do away with (repeal) PPACA. The problem is that states, insurance companies and people now enjoy getting "free" federal money - the only politically acceptable solution must not take away anyone's current "free" federal aid which makes the Trump plan (to reduce federal cost) a very tough nut to crack. What specific past bill are you calling "the plan"?

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Rogue Valley said:

Good healthcare isn't a consideration. The only thing Trump cares about is blabbering that he got x/y/z done withing his first 100 days.

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Hatuey said:

He's at 91 days right now. This will be Trump's 'red line' comment if he doesn't make it happen within the next 9.

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ttwtt78640 said:

I would not count out the possibility of some "TrumpCare" bill emerging from the House just so that House republicants can say that they "acted" knowing that the Senate will either change it or reject it entirely.

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Hatuey said:

I'd really surprised if anybody lifted a finger from here until through the next 10 days. Then again, I was wrong about Trump being elected so who knows.

He may just decidd that the future of our healthcare is nuclear, and bomb California to test the whole thing out.

Then again, I doubt he could locate California on a map... and would probably just end up annihilating a cornfield in Iowa.

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Greenbeard said:

Turns out an increasingly "frantic" Trump administration is trying desperately to resuscitate the awful American Health Care Act. They apparently continue to believe that making it even worse will bring it back from the dead. As long as they do it fast enough that there are no hearings on it, no debate on it, no one sees the text of the changes to it, and no CBO score is produced (makes sense, given that the last CBO score found the GOP's bill stripping 24 million people of their insurance and spiking premiums over the next two years).

And yet despite Trump bizarrely claiming today the House will pass something next week, the House doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. Which is a shame, because the last time they tried this was so much fun.

White House pressures GOP leaders on Obamacare showdown next week

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Cardinal said:

It infuriates trump that he has a loss on his score sheet. That's all he cares about. He doesn't know and doesn't care what's actually in the health bill. It could be single payer universal health care or it could be a guy that goes door-to-door and shoots everybody who gets sick. He doesn't care. As long as he can eliminate that loss, then that's all that matters.

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Greenbeard said:

I assume, like last time, he has no idea what's in the revisions.

Which is why his sales pitch today was (and this is an actual quote): "The plan gets better and better and better, and it’s gotten really, really good. And a lot of people are liking it a lot."

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Greenbeard said:

"The plan gets better and better and better, and it’s gotten really, really good. And a lot of people are liking it a lot."

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radcen said:

Meanwhile, his Suckers are nodding their heads and salivating at how great it's going to be.

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danarhea said:

I'm going to defend the House Republicans on this one. Obamacare is so entrenched that the OMB has stated repealing it will cause another recession. The House Republicans know that, and also know that they will be held responsible for it if it happens. Paul Ryan pulled the last attempt to repeal from the floor before it came to a vote because many Republicans would have voted no. That bill was way short of enough votes for it to pass. Obamacare is here to stay. But there is an alternative known as a single payer system that would work much better than Obamacare. Trump and the Republicans can be heroes and ensure a second term by pushing that through. Despite my reservations towards Trump, and there are many, he could very well get my vote in 2020 if he does that.

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