Freedom Caucus holds out on Trump’s efforts to pass healthcare bill

“I think the American people would be deeply disappointed that we were prevented from keeping our commitment by Republicans who in the end, in effect, voted for the status quo”. “I still believe when the president calls someone and says, “I need you on this, you are the difference between repealing Obamacare and Obamacare staying on the books, I need your vote” – it’s very hard to say no to that”. “So, that is something that I think in Congress you’ll see probably some changes”. Leaders will allow him to bring forward a bill later to super-duper-prevent undocumented immigrants from coming anywhere near health care tax credits.

The changes that House GOP members are working on this week are expected to address these concerns by providing more generous tax credits for older, low-income Americans, so that they won’t lose care once the Obamacare subsidies are repealed. For those who were anxious the legislation would allow taxpayer money to be spent on abortions, the amendment also eliminates a provision that would let Americans move their tax-credit money into a Health Savings Account.

In an effort to win over conservative Republicans, the leadership announced several amendments on Monday night.

Trump has been meeting with Republican holdouts, both on Capitol Hill and at the White House, trying to sway them to vote for the plan.

Asked on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” whether the bill would pass the House on Thursday, Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington said, “We’re definitely moving in the right direction” and “I am confident we will come together”.

But recently, questions have been raised over whether all of the gains we’re seeing in the stock market, and the growth many strategists are forecasting, is due to Trump or to an improving corporate and economic backdrop. “They haven’t changed the bill’s general framework”. “They have seriously miscalculated”. House Whip Steve Scalise and Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry have also been singling out individual Freedom Caucus members to try to peel them away from the group. Mark Meadows of North Carolina that he’d “come after” Meadows in the 2018 election if he voted no: “I believe Mark and his group will come along because, honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks”.

Meadows, however, is still a “no”.

Iowa’s fourth Congressman, Democrat Dave Loebsack, is expected to vote against the bill along with every other Democrat.

Trump, a man who rushes to hang his name in gold anywhere he can, has rejected the moniker that some have given the House bill, Trumpcare. He said he’s hopeful they will reach a consensus before the bill comes to the floor. He said the White House continued to argue politics, not policy.

“Speaker Ryan has certainly put his speakership on the line with the president, saying he will deliver the vote on Thursday”, said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y.

The US House of Representatives is due to vote on a landmark bill to reform the nation’s healthcare system on Thursday in a vote that will be the first test of US president Donald Trump’s congressional support.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said he wasn’t convinced the bill-which is now being debated in the House of Representatives-is ready to be sent to the Senate. Now that they have a chance to overhaul a law that they have criticised and opposed for years, they argue they should do a thorough job of it.