Daily Archives: March 27, 2017

The Fiscal Times

Chair of Freedom Caucus Open to Deficit-Expanding Tax Cuts The Fiscal Times One of the hallmarks of the Freedom Caucus is its members' insistence that they are fiscal conservatives. To most people, fiscal conservatism typically means opposition to deficit spending and a determination to reduce the national debt. Indeed, the ... Trump Takes To Twitter To Lambast Freedom Caucus, Club For Growth And Heritage On Obamacare RepealThe Liberty Conservative Republican Meadows: Tax Plan Does Not Have to Be Revenue NeutralU.S. News & World Report HFC Head Meadows Pledges 'Flexibility' on Trump's Tax ReformNewsmax Huffington Post -Fox News -Twitter all 188 news articles »

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Chair of Freedom Caucus Open to Deficit-Expanding Tax Cuts - The Fiscal Times

House Freedom Caucus co-founder Rep. Jim Jordan tried Sunday to end the blame being cast upon his group and others for Republicans failed ObamaCare overhaul bill, saying, Lets get to work.

Instead of doing the blame game, lets get to work, Jordan, R-Ohio, said on Fox News Sunday. Lets do the responsible thing. Lets get back to work and do what we told the voters we were going to do.

Much of the blame has been directed at the conservative group and its roughly 35 members, after House Speaker Paul Ryan realized that he didnt have enough support for the bill in the GOP-led chamber and canceled the final vote Friday.

However, practically everybody in official Washington is being accused of being at fault -- from the caucus for its ideological purity, to Ryan for his inability to get the votes to President Trump for failing to deliver with his vaunted deal-making skills.

Ryan purportedly needed about 20 more votes, mostly from Freedom Caucus members and a handful of GOP House moderates.

The rift led Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, to resign Sunday from the caucus.

"To deliver on the conservative agenda we have promised the American people for eight years, we must come together to find solutions to move this country forward," Poe said through his congressional office.

"Saying no is easy, leading is hard, but that is what we were elected to do. Leaving this caucus will allow me to be a more effective member of Congress and advocate for the people of Texas. It is time to lead."

Poe intended to vote in favor of the bill and personally told Trump last week that he would support the measure.

None of the chambers 193 Democrats supported dismantling President Obamas signature 2010 health care law, which is struggling under increasing costs and fewer insurance policy choices for Americans.

Jordan argued Sunday that the bill lost on its shortcomings, not over ideology, with just 17 percent of Americans approving of the measure, crafted by Ryan, R-Wis., and his leadership team.

Maybe the fact that we opposed it did the country a favor because this bill didnt repeal ObamCare, he said. This bill didnt do what we told the American people we were going to do.

He argued fiscal conservatives want a bill that brings back affordable insurance for their voters and all Americans through a market-based, not government-run, approach.

Not some one-size-fits-all mandate from Washington, said Jordan, whose caucus backed a plan by South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Republicans. Thats what our plan would have accomplished.

He also made clear that conservatives will hold Trump and Ryan to the same standards moving forward on such issues of tax reform and building the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Lets make sure we actually secure the border, build the wall, like we told the American people we were going to, he said. Thats what the Freedom Caucus was created to do -- fight for those simple principles.

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

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Freedom Caucus' Jordan: End ObamaCare blaming, 'Let's get to work' - Fox News

Its members, however, are Public Enemy No. 1 on Capitol Hill.

The group of conservative agitators who've irked leadership, held the line against spending bills and rebelled against trade priorities of leaders have now helped delay a health care vote at least one day.

Lawmakers and staffers are taking out their unhappiness on the group.

Even the White House is getting frustrated, sources say, as meetings -- -- including one Thursday morning with President Donald Trump -- have gotten them nowhere.

Rep. Bradley Byrne, an Alabama Republican and member of the Republican Study Committee, a large group of fiscal conservatives, complained Thursday morning that the Freedom Caucus continues to throw out an expanding list of demands and suggested there was little to be done to get some in that group on board and it was time to move on.

"Those members don't change so at some point you've got to say there's nothing in the world that's going to change their minds," Byrne said.

A senior GOP aide said the caucus realizes they have moderates at risk with nothing to show for it.

"They don't know how to get to yes. They just don't. And it's putting the whole process at risk right now," the aide said.

Byrne blasted the move to continue talks with the hard right in the Freedom Caucus while leaving the bulk of other members in the dark.

"The vast majority of us in the Republican conference have been left out of these discussions and we have no idea what's going on, and I think that is a problem for our leadership and I think it's growing problem for the chances of this bill," Byrne, who is supporter of the health care bill and part of the whip operation to help pass it.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, said Thursday there are "30-40" votes against the bill at this point. He also tried to downplay his power.

"I don't have any veto power," Meadows told reporters. "I have one vote."

So what is the Freedom Caucus, anyway?

The House Freedom Caucus got its start in 2015 when a small group of members came together to push for more conservative spending and policy ideals in the House. At first, there were just nine of them, but the group, which is considered the most far-right flank of the Republican conference, grew.

There is no official list of members, but the group is currently led by Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican. Other prominent members include Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford and Michigan Rep. Justin Amash.

The group -- when they hold the line together -- can have a lot of influence.

In 2015, they pushed to defund Planned Parenthood in a must-pass bill to keep the government funded. The group's revolt against then-House Speaker John Boehner on a host of issues left Boehner ready to retire. During the Obama years, many of the conservative bills that made it through the House never had a shot of being signed by former President Barack Obama. Now, the group could have a lot more sway.

And while the group has insisted its relationship with House Speaker Paul Ryan is more open, the opposition by much of the group to House leaders' health care bill has created a schism once again between the group and leadership.

The group has said repeatedly that it has the votes to kill House leadership's health care bill, and members seem to have enough sway with the White House that they've continued negotiating with Trump even after House leaders indicated no more changes would likely be made.

The Freedom Caucus may get a repeal of Essential Health Benefits to be included in the House leadership's bill. That would repeal the requirement in Obamacare that insurers cover 10 benefits such as maternity care and prescription drug coverage. Including it in the bill could substantially frustrate moderates who want to be a 'yes' but worry that their constituents would be irate if they take away the benefits.

CNN's Deirdre Walsh and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.

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Why (almost) everyone hates the House Freedom Caucus - CNN

WASHINGTON (AP) Prospects for the Republicans' showcase health care bill looked grimmer by the minute Thursday as President Donald Trump failed to get a deal with a bloc of balky conservatives, leaving the legislation short of votes in the House.

GOP leaders were meeting behind closed doors to determine next steps, but with moderate-leaning Republican lawmakers also bailing on the legislation, it looked increasingly unlikely the vote planned for later Thursday would happen.

The bill could still come to a vote in coming days, but canceling Thursday's vote would amount to a significant political setback for Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan in the first major legislative test of Trump's young presidency. It comes on the seven-year anniversary to the day of President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act, seven years that Republicans have devoted to promising repeal.

Those promises helped them keep control of the House and Senate and win the White House, but now, at the moment of truth, they are falling short.

"No deal," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said after he and his group of more than two dozen rebellious conservatives met with Trump to try to get more concessions to reduce requirements on insurance companies.

The Republican legislation would halt Obama's tax penalties against people who don't buy coverage and cut the federal-state Medicaid program for low earners, which the Obama statute had expanded. It would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills, though generally skimpier than Obama's statute provides. It also would allow insurers to charge older Americans more and repeal tax boosts the law imposed on high-income people and health industry companies.

The measure would also block federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year, another stumbling block for GOP moderates.

In a danger sign for Republicans, a Quinnipiac University poll found that people disapprove of the GOP legislation by 56 percent to 17 percent, with 26 percent undecided. Trump's handling of health care was viewed unfavorably by 6 in 10.

The survey was conducted March 16 to 21 with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

GOP leaders had targeted Thursday for the climactic vote, in part because it marks the seventh anniversary of Obama's signing the measure into law. With the House in recess awaiting the outcome of the White House meeting, C-SPAN aired video of that signing ceremony.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., couldn't resist a dig.

"You may be a great negotiator," she said of Trump. "Rookie's error for bringing this up on a day when clearly you're not ready."

In a count by The Associated Press, at least 30 Republicans said they opposed the bill, enough to defeat the measure. But the number was in constant flux amid the eleventh-hour lobbying.

Including vacancies and expected absentees, the bill would be defeated if 23 Republicans join all Democrats in voting "no."

Obama declared in a statement that "America is stronger" because of the current law and Democrats must make sure "any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans." Trump tweeted to supporters, "Go with our plan! Call your Rep & let them know."

Tension has been building in advance of the critical vote, and a late-night meeting of moderate-leaning members in Speaker Ryan's office Wednesday broke up without resolution.

A key moderate who had been in the meeting, Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, issued a statement saying he would be voting "no" on the health bill. "I believe this bill, in its current form, will lead to the loss of coverage and make insurance unaffordable for too many Americans," said Dent, a leader of the Tuesday Group of moderate-leaning Republicans.

Congressional leaders have increasingly put the onus on the president to close the deal, seemingly seeking to ensure that he takes ownership of the legislation and with it, ownership of defeat if that is the outcome.

Moderates were given pause by projections of 24 million Americans losing coverage in a decade and higher out-of-pocket costs for many low-income and older people, as predicted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

___

Associated Press reporters Alan Fram, Kevin Freking, Ken Thomas and Matt Daly contributed to this report.

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Fiscal conservatives balk on vote for GOP health bill in House - Cullman Times Online