http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/obamacare-repeal-votes-congress-236459 Update 3:35 p.m.: House leaders pulled their bill to repeal and replace Obamacare just ahead of a planned vote on Friday, in a staggering blow to President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan. The move came amid a slew of late-breaking defections by moderate and far-right members of the Republican Conference, who were unbowed by Trump's ultimatum to vote for the plan or live with Obamacare. This story will be updated. Original story: House leaders worked frantically Friday to salvage President Donald Trump's push to replace Obamacare, as an erosion of support from key Republicans threatened to sink the bill a day after the president delivered an ultimatum: Pass my bill or leave Obamacare in place. The scene at the Capitol laid bare the deep uncertainty over the high-stakes gambit. Lawmakers on Speaker Paul Ryan's whip team cornered reluctant Republicans in the House chamber, working to extract additional support for the measure. Senior Trump aides Marc Short and Rick Dearborn huddled with members just outside the chamber. Ryan himself warned Trump at the White House that the bill lacked the support to pass. The vote was nevertheless still scheduled to take place. "As of right now, I'm not sure we're across the finish line," said Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), a backer of the bill, told reporters. "We have not discussed a plan B ... there's no backroom discussion for if this doesn't work out." Throughout the day, more foreboding signs emerged for the American Health Care Act. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, announced his opposition to the bill moments after the House cleared a procedural hurdle to bring the legislation to the floor. "Unfortunately, the legislation before the House today is currently unacceptable as it would place significant new costs and barriers to care on my constituents in New Jersey," Frelinghuysen wrote. Hard-line conservative Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) told reporters he, too, would be voting "no." Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican freshman from Arizona said in a statement of opposition that the legislation "keeps the framework of Obamacare in place and continues to provide massive subsidies." And Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), a moderate in the D.C. suburbs, joined the dissenters just hours before the bill was set to hit the floor. As defections mounted, Ryan headed to the White House to brief Trump on his efforts to whip votes. Vice President Mike Pence, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, meanwhile, sent to the Capitol to meet with the Freedom Caucus, amid growing suspicion that House leaders are considering pulling the bill from the floor. As Ryan was departing Capitol Hill for the White House, two sources — one in the House leadership, one in the Trump administration — confirmed that the whip count was moving in the wrong direction. Within minutes, the White House source said Ryan was considering pulling the bill from the House floor and indefinitely postponing a vote, but wanted to speak with Trump first. "We want the vote," a senior administration official said. "If they want to go against the president, they should do it on live TV." Even before Friday's defections, top House leaders, squeezed by hard-line conservatives and skittish moderates, privately worried that too many Republican lawmakers had publicly panned the health care proposal they crafted, making them less susceptible to last-minute arm-twisting and a pressure campaign from the White House. They were hopeful that Trump's ultimatum would break the opposition, but little appears to have changed. Trump himself turned the screws Friday morning. “After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan!" he tweeted. Minutes later, he pleaded with recalcitrant conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, who are threatening to sink the bill, to remember their priorities. "The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump had done everything possible to get the bill across the finish line. “He’s left everything on the field when it comes to this bill,” Spicer said. He added, "You can’t force people to vote." The intense jockeying leading up to the expected Friday afternoon vote has produced a rare moment of genuine uncertainty in Congress. A win would be a big confidence boost for the new president, as well as for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has staked much of his own political capital on passing the bill. Eleventh-hour attempts to corral wavering Republicans led to some expensive dealmaking as the bill gets its final touches in committee. A handful of moderate Republicans — including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy — hailed the addition of $15 billion for maternity care, as well as mental health and substance abuse. House leaders are being squeezed at both ends of their 237-member caucus, and they have little room for error. With Democrats unanimously opposed to the measure, Republicans can lose no more than 21 or 22 votes. Already more than a dozen moderate Republicans have staked out positions against the measure. Several, including Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, New York Rep. Dan Donovan, New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance and Iowa Rep. David Young, reiterated that opposition late Thursday. Several hard-line House conservatives are promising to join them, including, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert and Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks. Trump's gambit is simple: Dare the House's hard-right band of burn-it-down conservatives, the Freedom Caucus, to vote against the best chance they've ever had to deal a mortal blow to Obamacare. Most of the three-dozen Freedom Caucus members have rejected the plan so far because they say it doesn't do enough to rip Obamacare's mandates from the books and lower premiums for their constituents. But a last-minute flurry of amendments blessed by the White House included a provision to scrap a core element of Obamacare: a set of required benefits insurers must offer, from maternity care to mental health coverage. Conservatives say axing those mandates will enable consumers to purchase cheaper plans and foster more competition. But the Freedom Caucus also says it isn't enough: They also want to strip the law's remaining regulations, including a popular provision to guarantee coverage for people with preexisting conditions. Trump's ultimatum may have spooked them, however. Late Thursday, there were signs that many of the most ardent Freedom Caucus members were at least considering giving their support for the measure. By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. One wild card will be the role of House Democrats. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants have been blasting the GOP bill, and they expect all 194 members of their caucus to unite in opposition. What's unclear is whether they'll employ procedural motions to slow down the bill and turn the screws on scrambling House Republicans. Asked Friday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” if the White House and GOP leadership-backed bill has enough votes to pass, Mulvaney, himself a former Freedom Caucus member, said “don’t know.” Tim Alberta and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
Takes time to get bills passed, if you are betting against Obamacare getting repealed you will be disappointed, I have no idea what comes out on the other side but id bet my life on the fact that Obamacare gets repealed, its just a matter of time.
Maybe,I really don't know.Seems a lot of republicans are scared to repeal it outright due to the number of people who will lose coverage and retaliate at the polls.My guess is they will eventually pass another Obamacare lite bill.
Now its time for Trump to work on his biggest priority,massive tax cuts for himself and people like him.That will likely pass on the first try.
I expect Obamacare to be repealed or I am going to be pretty unhappy. Trump should just issue an executive order that firmly kills Obamacare and be done with it.
As a trader, I just hope this healthcare vote keeps failing for a couple more weeks, the volatility when the headlines keep coming out that they dont have the votes (something we already knew) has been alot of fun, lol. Hopefully on monday they say they dont have the votes again and the market goes batshit crazy one more time. Shorting pops on TVIX/UVXY and NUGT has been a godsend this week.
was this in his election campain promises? I thought people voted for him so as to get this wall, and for Mexico to pay for it : any news about when this is happening?
Might get a wall but Mexico's not paying for it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...g-for-the-border-wall/?utm_term=.beb5b5e24510 Mitch McConnell’s refreshingly honest answer about Mexico paying for the border wall Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked by Politico's Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer on Thursday morning whether he believed that Mexico would, ultimately, foot the cost for the border wall President Trump wants built on our southern border. “Uh, no,” was McConnell's blunt response, according to CNN's Manu Raju.
Oh yeah! Massive tax cuts for the wealthy (especially business owners). Biggest cut will be AMT which effectively eliminates deductions for the wealthy.