House Freedom Caucus summoned back to White House today as health care bill negotiations continue – Charleston Post Courier

WASHINGTON House Republican leaders and President Donald Trump are scrambling to get the support necessary to hold a vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act today, the seventh anniversary of its signing.

After negotiations all through Wednesday night and into Thursday, it's not clear a deal can be reached.

On Thursday afternoon, it seemed prospects for passage hinged on whether members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus were willing to go along with a new agreement to get rid of Obamacare's "essential health benefits" identified as one cause of high premiums.

Essential health benefits currently require health insurers to cover primary care appointments, maternity care, mental health care and hospitalizations, among other things.

But an hours-long meeting at the White House during the morning between members of the Freedom Caucus and Trump did not result in an agreement on a final deal.

South Carolina Republican Reps. Mark Sanford and Jeff Duncan were among the members who made the trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a repeat of their visit from the day before where the discussion was defined less by carrots and more by sticks.

The tone and tenor of the follow-up meeting might have been different, given the White House and House GOP leaders were, 24 hours later, willing to offer concessions.

More than 25 of the roughly 40 Freedom Caucus members said Wednesday they were prepared to vote against the bill as currently written, arguing it didn't go far enough to dismantle Obamacare.

Sanford and Duncan have not ruled out voting for the legislation but have said consistently they have serious reservations and are leaning "no" without major changes or assurances that certain provisions would be added when it's the Senate's turn to consider the bill.

Republican leaders can only lose 22 members and still pass their bill.

In a Facebook post earlier Thursday, Duncan said the tie-in would be nice, but not at the expense of a good bill.

"Optics should not trump (pun intended) good, sound, policy which re-empowers the American people and removes government from its invasiveness in our health care," Duncan wrote. "But let me be clear: there is a fallacy that I love this seat in Congress more than I love America. I ran for Congress to return liberty to my fellow American citizens. A big part of that was to end this redistribution scheme known as Obamacare."

Meanwhile, there's no guarantee caving to demands of the Freedom Caucus would lure enough members to get the bill over the finish line, especially as moderate Republicans are becoming increasingly put off by efforts to move the legislation farther to the right. But moderates had, too, been compelled to come to the table with certain sweeteners earlier in the negotiation process.

On the other side of the Capitol, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the whole thing was reminding him a lot of what went into crafting and passing the Affordable Care Act seven years ago.

"The process seems unseemly, at best, kind of like a Turkish bazaar. Buying votes ... trying to intimidate people. That sounds like Obamacare," Graham said.

As for whether he supported stripping away essential health benefits, Graham said he wanted to "absorb the effects of that on cost and people.

"I'd like a more deliberative process," he said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Emma Dumain is The Post and Courier's Washington correspondent. Reach her at 843-834-0419 and follow her @emma_dumain.

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House Freedom Caucus summoned back to White House today as health care bill negotiations continue - Charleston Post Courier