Top members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), Tuesday Group and the Republican Study Committee are set to meet with Vice President Mike Pence and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to discuss changes to the leadership-backed Obamacare repeal bill Thursday.
GOP lawmakers’ tone on repealing and replacing Obamacare has gradually become more optimistic since the different factions of the conference have renewed efforts to negotiate revisions to the bill’s text. The White House has amped up its involvement in trying to strike a deal, despite initially calling on Congress to move on to other legislative priorities.
Pence met with both the Tuesday Group and House Freedom Caucus members Monday to lay out potential changes to the legislation the administration hopes will placate both conservatives and moderates alike. He also made an appearance Tuesday afternoon at the cross-sectional meeting between leaders of the major caucuses hosted by House Speaker Paul Ryan on a weekly basis.
HFC Chairman Mark Meadows said they are waiting to review the revised text — which sources say could be unveiled at the meeting — before they decided whether they can support the measure.
Leadership has largely stayed out of the negotiations between members, opting instead for a bottom-up approach.
Easter recess is quickly approaching, with members set to head back to their districts Thursday, and some members expressed fear the legislation could lose support over the two-week break. But House leadership said pushing a timeline on the measure could lead to potential problems, and their main focus is making sure they make good on their promise to bring down premiums and expand access to care.
“Remember you want to make sure you get all the information, and so you don’t want to be jumping too far in advance,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “You want people to read it, you’ve got to go through the Byrd-bathing of it and everything — so I don’t think you lose any momentum by getting it right.”
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