Category Archives: Fiscal Freedom

In a sign of the renewed Republicanoptimism surrounding a health care overhaul, several House GOP memberssay they still want to use the budget reconciliation process for the current fiscal year to pass legislation, effectively providing themselves with less thantwo months to get a deal.

Leadership has yet to make any concrete decisions on the path forward for health care after pulling a bill last week that would have partially repealed and replaced the 2010 health care law.

Yes, absolutely, Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker said when asked if the fiscal 2017 reconciliation process was still the plan for moving forward on thehealth care overhaul.

Texas Rep. Bill Flores, a former RSC chairman, agreed that the GOP should stick to its plan to use the fiscal 2017 reconciliation process for advancing health care legislation and then write fiscal 2018 reconciliation instructions for a restructuring of the tax code.

The deadline is whenever the House and Senate come together on [the] FY 18 budget, Flores said of when the health care bill would have to be completed, if moving through the fiscal 2017 reconciliation process.

Thats theoretically second half of May, so weve got between now and then, he said, adding, We can actually control that some if we need to.

During the past few weeks of negotiations, House Republicans disagreed on what provisions would be allowed under the Senates reconciliation rules. But the advantage of using reconciliation is the ability to pass legislation in the Senate with a simple majority.

Democrats have not signaled anyinterest in helping Republicans repeal the 2010 health care law, so the budget process is the GOPs only shot at repeal.

Speaking after the RSCs weekly meeting Wednesday, Walker said the GOP has had a productive week and the effort to revive the health care effort is headed in a right direction.

The North Carolina Republicansaid last weeks pulled legislation remains the framework and talks have involved changing that bill.

Moving up the timeframe for rolling back the current laws Medicaid expansion is not part of those discussions, hesaid, noting that January 2020 looks like its going to stay.

Thats when the GOP-led legislation proposed freezing Medicaid expansion enrollment.

The Republican Study Committees leaders were prepared to vote yes on the bill before it was pulled, as were most of its members, whoaccount for roughly two-thirds of House Republicans.

Going forward, the RSC can be helpful to bring ideas and also to bring the votes, Flores said.

The group could be used to broker peace between members of the hard-lineHouse Freedom Caucus and the centrist Tuesday Group, both of whom provided enough opposition to sink the bill last week.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows had been trying to arrange a meeting between his caucus and the Tuesday Group on health care but on Wednesday, the North Carolina Republicansaidno meeting had been scheduled and he didnt anticipate one would be.

While Meadows declined to state the reason for not getting together, its likely many Tuesday Group members dont see much ground for compromise. Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, a groupco-chairman, said Tuesday any overhaul effort needed to evolve from the center out and be bipartisan.

However, individual talks may occur. New Jersey Rep. Tom MacArthur, another Tuesday Group co-chairman, expressed openness to discussions with the Freedom Caucus, saying he harbors no resentment toward the group.

Like Walker and Flores, Meadows sees the current fiscal years reconciliation process as the best vehicle for overhauling the health insurance system.

Its partly because I think we need to get it done, he said. And its spring. And what happens? Hope springs eternal.

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Republicans Want to Keep at It on Health Care Overhaul - Roll Call

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The United Kingdom has demonstrated good economic resilience with effective rule of law, an open trading environment, and a well-developed financial sector. A labor market that is relatively liberal by European standards has complemented one of the worlds most efficient business and investment environments.

Fiscal consolidation has progressed through spending cuts that have reduced the fiscal deficit to a more manageable though still high level. The U.K. continues to benefit from strong institutional assets such as an independent judiciary and stable currency, and the services sector accounts for 75 percent of the nations GDP.

Following the market reforms instituted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, Britain experienced steady economic growth throughout the 1990s and is now the worlds fifth-largest economy. Government spending grew significantly under successive Labour governments in the early 2000s but has moderated under Conservative governments since 2010. In June 2016, the U.K. voted in a popular referendum to leave the European Union. The exit vote resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, who was replaced by Theresa May. The overall policy direction of the May government, which has argued for an industrial policy, remains to be seen, but negotiating Brexit will undoubtedly be a top priority.

Private property rights and contracts are very secure, and the court system is efficient and independent. Protection of intellectual property rights is effective. The rule of law is well established, and the World Economic Forums 20152016 Global Competitiveness Report ranked the U.K. sixth in the world for efficiency of dispute resolution through its legal framework. Isolated instances of bribery and corruption occur but are prosecuted vigorously.

The top personal income tax rate is 45 percent. The top corporate tax rate has been reduced to 20 percent. Other taxes include a value-added tax and an environment tax. The overall tax burden equals 32.6 percent of total domestic income. Government spending has amounted to 44 percent of total output (GDP) over the past three years, and budget deficits have averaged 5.2 percent of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 89.3 percent of GDP.

The regulatory environment is efficient and transparent. Starting a business takes less than a week. Bankruptcy proceedings are straightforward, and the labor market is relatively efficient. The U.K. has few price controls, but it does regulate rates for most utilities and partly controls the price of prescription drugs. In late 2015, the government cut subsidies for renewable wind energy.

Trade is important to the United Kingdoms economy; the value of exports and imports taken together equals 57 percent of GDP. The average applied tariff rate is 1.5 percent, and the economy is very open to foreign investment. The financial sector continues be one of most competitive in the world, but the state still holds ownership in some banks.

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Index of Economic Freedom: United Kingdom

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - The full dimensions of the GOPs self-defeat on health care will emerge over time, but one immediate consequence is giving up block grants for Medicaid. This transformation would have put the program on a budget for the first time since it was created in 1965, and the bills opponents ought to be held accountable for the rising spending that they could have prevented.

The members of the House Freedom Caucus who killed ObamaCares repeal and replacement claim to be fiscal hawks. Most of them support a balanced budget amendment. Yet they gave zero credit to a reform that would have restored Medicaida safety net originally intended for poor women, children and the disabledto its original, more limited purposes.

Over the years liberal and some otherwise conservative states opened Medicaid benefits to new populations. And in 2010 ObamaCare added working-age, able-bodied adults above the poverty level. The result is that Medicaid now insures more than 72 million people, or one of every five Americans. In six states its one of every four or higher. Medicaid is now the third-largest program in the federal budget and the fastest growing. Federal outlays are nearly three times higher today than in 2000, as the nearby chart shows.

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The GOP Entitlement Caucus: Freedom Caucus Wastes the Best Shot at Fiscal Restraint in Years - Fox News

By Billy House and Erik Wasson Bloomberg News (TNS)

WASHINGTON Republican leaders are eager to avoid a government shutdown but the demise of their Obamacare repeal could leave some conservatives spoiling for a fight that raises the odds of a standoff.

The House Freedom Caucus, which helped bring down the GOP health care bill, says Republicans have yet to notch a significant victory, despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House. One top promise they and other conservatives had to hoped to deliver on with the Obamacare repeal was defunding Planned Parenthood over its provision of abortions.

Now, their next chance comes with a spending measure needed to keep the government operating after April 28, when current funding runs out. But Democrats, and some Republicans, strongly defend the group, which provides many health services to women. The battle, which nearly led to a shutdown in 2015, could be enough to set Congress on a path to another one.

Im very concerned and we are going to have to try and work in a bipartisan fashion, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said Monday.

How much leverage conservatives and the Freedom Caucus will have in future fights remains unclear. Any spending measure needs at least eight Democratic votes in the Senate to be enacted, and lawmakers on the Appropriations panels have been quietly negotiating a bipartisan spending plan to fund the government through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

But conservatives, who defied personal pleas from President Donald Trump to back the Obamacare repeal bill, may feel emboldened to make demands on a stopgap, and could harangue GOP colleagues who cave in to Democratic demands.

Trump, too, will be looking for legislative victories, which have so far been elusive. And given the sharp cuts he has proposed for non-defense spending, he may not have the same reservations as his predecessors about shutting down the government.

But John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, dismissed the idea. Theres not going to be a shutdown, he said. No shutdowns.

More broadly, the Republican dysfunction that killed Obamacare repeal could be a sign of more turmoil ahead in Congress for other GOP plans as well, including an ambitious tax overhaul, infrastructure spending and legislation to raise the nations debt limit.

House GOP leaders will be relying in part on Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen to help sell a spending measure that can make it through the House. But Republicans are angry at the New Jersey Republican, according to a GOP aide, because he came out against the health-care bill Friday, hours away from the do-or-die vote. Angry lawmakers could take it out on his committees legislation, the aide said.

Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who sits on the appropriations panel, said GOP leaders should simply advance the measure currently being negotiated, ignore the Freedom Caucus and rely on Democratic help.

Im sorry but we had a revolt even when we didnt do a bipartisan approach, he said referring to the health-care bill. The paramount thing is to get budget stability and look ahead to fiscal 2018 spending.

Republicans shutting down the government would be the most politically stupid thing you could do, he said.

Another member of the appropriations committee, Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida, says he hopes that Trump will give them cover from the Freedom Caucus, with the argument that its better to just get passed this funding deadline and move on.

If we shut down the government when we have total control, I dont know what to tell you, he said.

The outcome could depend on how strongly Trump sticks to his demands. The president has asked for $30 billion in emergency spending for defense, along with $18 billion in offsetting cuts in non-defense spending. Both Republicans and Democrats have said those cuts are a nonstarter. And he also wants Congress to begin spending money on a border wall, even though Democrats are mostly opposed and Republican leaders arent in any hurry on that issue.

The congressional calendar also leaves no room for error. Lawmakers are scheduled for a two-week recess in April, leaving very little time before the funding deadline.

Planned Parenthood could still be the biggest sticking point, but some Republicans are sounding weary of conservatives demands on this issue.

Dont come to me and ask me to do that when you had your chance and you couldnt put up the votes for that, Cole said, referring to the House Freedom Caucus blocking the Obamacare repeal bill.

And even some conservatives are showing signs they see risks in forcing a showdown on the funding bill, particularly because the legislation will need Democratic votes to pass the Senate.

We can stand here and beat each other to bloody dust and get nothing accomplished, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, one of the most strident opponents of abortion and Planned Parenthood, said Monday.

The White House also hasnt articulated a clear position on the issue.

When pressed Monday on whether Trump would commit to pushing to defund the group in the upcoming spending bill, White House spokesman Sean Spicer wouldnt say, explaining he didnt want to get ahead of our legislative strategy.

Trump himself tweeted on Sunday, Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!

Democrats, still savoring the implosion of the Obamacare repeal effort, see little reason to give in to conservatives demands.

Democrats continue to work in good faith to develop a bipartisan package that supports critical services and investments and rejects poison pill riders, said Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, says he could see a deal where Democrats accept some emergency defense and border security spending in return for protection on undocumented immigrants who got protection under the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

I do know eventually you gotta deal with these 800,000 kids. Theyre going to start losing their legal status and I dont think we as a party are going to pull them back into the shadows, he said Monday. Im open-minded about dealing with those kids in this package, but thats just me.

Indeed, while Trump has said hes open to granting the so-called Dreamers some kind of protected status, several House conservatives have tried to terminate the program on previous spending bills.

Even if Republicans manage to avoid a shutdown, the Obamacare repeal incident has raised doubts, including at the White House, about the partys ability to avoid a repeat on its next big priority: a tax overhaul.

Were driving the train on this, said Spicer, signaling that Trump would take a more active role in the tax debate after delegating much of the health care tasks to Ryan.

But Spicer also said that administration including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, economic adviser Gary Cohn and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have yet to reach agreement on a tax plan. Still unclear is whether Trump will support Ryans plan, which includes a controversial proposal to replace the 35 percent corporate income tax with a 20 percent levy on U.S. companies domestic sales and imports. Exports would be excluded.

Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also have to decide whether to adopt a new fiscal 2018 budget resolution, which could be a difficult feat given conservatives demands that the budget needs to be balances within 10 years. They could also decide to reuse the existing fiscal 2017 resolution, which they had originally planned to use for Obamacare repeal.

The timing for tax legislation is also unclear. While Ryan is pressing to pass a bill by August, Senate leaders have also suggested it may take longer, and Spicer left open that possibility as well.

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After GOP health failure, next battle could shut down government - Asheboro Courier Tribune

Fort Worth Star Telegram (blog)

Is 'Tea Party' name going flat? Texas group chooses 'Freedom' Fort Worth Star Telegram (blog) The label Tea Party was launched in early 2009 by secular libertarian groups, but within weeks was pirated by Republican grassroots organizers campaigning on social issues along with fiscal conservatism. In the Texas House, a new 11-member Texas ... and more »

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Is 'Tea Party' name going flat? Texas group chooses 'Freedom' - Fort Worth Star Telegram (blog)

The federal government is on track to collect more than $3.6 trillion in revenue for the current fiscal year, roughly 18.9 percent of of the nations $19.3 trillion economy.

And still, it will not be enough to keep the government in the black.

Washington definitely has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

By fiscal year 2021, according to projections by the Office of Management and Budget, revenues will hit 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a figure reached just once since World War II. The fact revenues are near historic highs is important to keep in mind as the debate over tax reform gets ready to kick off in earnest over the next few weeks, according to conservative budget experts.

Washington definitely has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, said Adam Michel, a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. Were spending our money on too many things.

Tax Revenue as Share of GDP

Source: Office of Management and Budget

This Week host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday offered a preview of what will come when he grilled House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) about whether Congress needs to cut a dollar of spending for every dollar of tax cuts.

Does it have to be fully offset? My personal response is no, Meadowssaid.

That prompted surprise from Stephanopoulos.

Oh, well that seems like a bit of a shift, he said.

Meadows argued lower taxes would stimulate economic growth, increasing wages and tax revenue. Stephanopoulos surprise notwithstanding, that has been standard Republican philosophy since the days of President Ronald Reagan. The GOP should not run away from it now, said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

We had similar complaints when Reagan took the marginal tax rates down, he told LifeZette.

Norquist said the economy averaged about 2 percent economic growth under former President Barack Obama. Boosting that to 3 percent would produce an additional $2.5 trillion over a decade, he said. He said a 4 percent growth rate, achieved in the Reagan and Clinton administrations, would mean $5 trillion.

The way to raise revenue is economic growth, he said. The Ds have it all wrong. They want to keep spending money and have lousy economic growth. We tried that for eight years.

A 2013 study by economists Karel Mertens and Morten Ravn found a 1 percentage point cut in the average personal income tax rate raises economic growth per capita by 1.4 percent in the first quarter and 1.8 percent after three-quarters. An equivalent cut in the corporate income tax rate raises GDP by .4 percent in the first quarter and .6 percent after a year.

Norquist argued that not all tax cuts are equal, though. He said President George W. Bushs 2001 tax cut was mainly through tax credits, which have a limited impact on GDP. He urged Congress to pass growth tax cuts that would be longer-lasting.

Michel, of the Heritage Foundation, noted that federal revenues as a share of GDP have held fairly stable within a few percentage points for decades, despite changes in tax rates.

The inability to sort of move beyond that speaks to how difficult it is to squeeze more money out of the tax code by raising rates, he said.

Michel said tackling deficits and the national debt over the long haul depends on spending reform. He said that means taking on the big-ticket items like Social Security and health care spending.

There are definitely reforms that can be done in these areas where we can contain costs, and I think we need to look at these areas, he said.

Norquist said cutting taxes also could help reduce spending if it juices the economy and reduces government dependency.

Growth, growth, growth is the way to reduce spending because you spend less on welfare, he said.

Although some experts contend that tax reform is even harder than the health care overhaul that failed last week, Norquist argued that it is easier. The people hurt by the failure to repeal Obamacare are diffuse, he said. The people hurt by taxes, he added, are well-known, and they know who they are. And they know who to be made at.

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GOP Targets Taxes as Government Nears 20 Percent of Economy - LifeZette

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

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

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

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