WASHINGTON – The White House and House Republicans are continuing work on replacing ObamaCare despite the embarrassing failure last week to pass a new healthcare bill.
House Republicans huddled Tuesday for the first time since having to pull their GOP healthcare plan Friday for a lack of votes. Leadership pledged to fulfill their campaign promises to undo ObamaCare and warned Democrats their joy will be short-lived.
“Their celebration is premature,” House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said. “Because I think we are closer today to repealing ObamaCare than we’ve ever been before, surely even closer than we were Friday. We’re going to keep working. This issue isn’t going away.”
President Trump issued an ultimatum to House Republicans Thursday night: pass his bill or else he’d move on and leave ObamaCare in place.
But in the days since the bill was pulled, he and Speaker Paul Ryan have spoken “a few times” on how to move forward, said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
Trump has been increasingly critical of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and has said he’s ready to work with Democrats.
“If we can find a way forward, we’ll do it,” Spicer said Tuesday.
He said the White House had about “205, 207” or “maybe 210” votes, and the question still remains how to get to the expected 218 votes needed for passage without turning a “very good bill” into a “bad deal.”
Spicer said making additions to win votes is balancing act.
“Can you add additional folks on without pushing additional folks off?,” he asked. “And what you have to add to the bill, does it make it stronger or does it not?”