Freedom Caucus

US House Speaker Deadlock Continues as Kevin McCarthy’s 11th Bid Fails

Far-right Republicans have either voted for another, less-popular candidate or refused to vote at all, denying McCarthy the numbers he needs to get through.

California: The deadlock in the United States House of Representatives continued on Thursday, December 5, as Kevin McCarthy failed to sway hardline Republicans to back his bid to become speaker.

McCarthy’s bid failed again in a ninth, tenth, and eleventh round of voting due to the opposition of 20 hardline Republicans — more rounds of voting than the ten held in 1859.

Late on Thursday, Republicans voted to adjourn and return to voting at noon on Friday (1700 GMT).

In the eighth round of voting on Wednesday, he did not get enough votes despite concessions to his detractors.

In order for the US Congress’s lower chamber to conduct any business, including the swearing-in of new members, the party with the most seats must elect a leader, the Speaker of the House.

The Republicans have a narrow majority following the country’s November congressional elections, and party leaders had put forward former Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California for the job.

Far-right Republicans have either voted for another, less-popular candidate or refused to vote at all, denying McCarthy the numbers he needs to get through. Democrats, who unanimously elected Hakeem Jeffries of New York as minority leader, have so far refused to leave the floor, which would decrease the number of votes McCarthy needs to win.

“It’s my hope that today the House Republicans will stop the bickering, stop the backbiting and stop the backstabbing so we can have the backs of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters at the US Capitol.

Some Democrats have indicated to reporters that they would vote for a Republican candidate if the party puts forward a nominee more likely to compromise on certain issues.

A three-day standoff

What started as a political novelty, the first time in 100 years a nominee had not won the gavel on the first vote, has devolved into a bitter Republican Party feud with around 20 hardliners in McCarthy’s camp holding out.

As things got underway on Thursday, it was clear that McCarthy had lost yet another round of voting. He is facing increasing pressure from both sides of the aisle to gather the votes he needs or step aside.

This happened despite apparent concessions to the 20 or so Republicans who are stalling McCarthy’s ascension. This includes, according to reports, crossing his own red line and agreeing to give far-fright Freedom Caucus members a couple of seats on a key committee.

Three Republican lawmakers due to head national security committees also warned in an open letter early on Thursday that the House is currently unable to conduct necessary oversight of the Defense Department or the intelligence services until a speaker is elected.

“We cannot let personal politics place the safety and security of the United States at risk,” they said.

This article first appeared on DW.

More Talks but No Decisions on Republican Push to Overhaul Healthcare

The lack of a resolution complicates a White House push for a House vote on a healthcare proposal before Friday, when lawmakers return to their districts for two weeks.

House speaker Paul Ryan holds a news conference following a House of Representatives conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, US April 4, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Washington: A US House of Representatives vote to overhaul Obamacare before lawmakers leave Washington for a two-week break looked unlikely late on Tuesday as top White House deputies and key Republican groups said more discussions were needed.

Vice president Mike Pence and administration officials met on Capitol Hill for two hours with lawmakers from the moderate ‘Tuesday Group,’ the conservative Republican Study Committee and the House Freedom Caucus, the rebel group of conservative lawmakers that derailed the first administration-backed healthcare bill last month.

While progress had been made, the officials and House lawmakers said no bill text had been agreed on and no decisions had been made by the various Republican factions.

The lack of a resolution complicates a White House push for a House vote on a healthcare proposal before Friday, when lawmakers return to their districts for two weeks.

“Good talk, good progress,” Pence told reporters without providing details.

Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows said the meeting had focused on an amendment to create a “backstop” to ensure individuals with chronic illnesses in high-risk pools do not see spikes in insurance premium costs if other aspects of Obamacare, also known as the 2010 Affordable Care Act, are repealed.

“No decisions were made. We’re going to get back together tomorrow at a time to be determined,” Meadows told reporters.

Republican Study Committee chairman Mark Walker said the focus when talks resumed would be on sticking points such as whether to allow states to opt out of Obamacare mandates that insurers must cover a minimum tier of services and cannot charge more to those with pre-existing conditions – a popular provision of the law that Trump has promised to protect.

Legislative test

The Republican failure last month to dismantle Obamacare was President Donald Trump’s first major legislative setback and it raised questions about how he would build Republican consensus to deliver on other major legislative goals.

Many Republicans were elected on promises to repeal and replace Obamacare but House speaker Paul Ryan was forced to withdraw the Bill when it became clear there were not enough Republican votes to pass it.

Hard-line conservatives, such as those in the Freedom Caucus, thought it was too similar to former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Moderate conservatives balked at proposed changes to some of its most popular provisions that were sought by conservative lawmakers.

Trump initially said he would move on to fulfilling other campaign promises such as a tax overhaul and infrastructure-spending package, but a new attempt at reviving the failed healthcare push took off on Monday when White House officials met Republican lawmakers.

A source familiar with internal House Republican deliberations said healthcare, not taxes, now topped the House agenda and that the White House was driving the healthcare effort.

“They want to get this done as quickly as possible,” Meadows told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting.

Republican lawmakers have said the new push on healthcare would maintain Obamacare’s essential health benefits clause listing services and care that insurers must cover. However, in a move to attract hard-line conservatives, states could apply for a waiver if they showed it would improve coverage and reduce costs.

The “backstop” for individuals in the high-risk pool discussed on Tuesday would direct additional funds to a $115 billion state stability fund authorised in the first Republican Bill. No final decision was made, even though there was consensus, lawmakers said.

“We’re taking our time and working through policy and structure until we reach consensus,” said Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady.

“Let’s let the solution and common ground drive the timetable, rather than the other way. That was really the consensus,” he said.

Ryan told reporters after a closed meeting with fellow Republicans on Tuesday morning that the renewed healthcare effort was simply in the “conceptual stage right now,” and did not give a timeline for having a Bill on the House floor.

Talk of a revived plan hurt shares of hospitals and insurers that have benefited from Obamacare’s expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor, which extended insurance to millions of people and helped cut hospital debt.

Major hospital and medical groups, including the American Medical Association, were opposed to the initial Republican Bill because it would lead to massive coverage losses and cuts in hospital revenue.

(Reuters)

US Lawmakers Hold Talks to Revive Trump’s Healthcare Bill

Ten days ago, House speaker Paul Ryan was forced to cancel a vote on an Obamacare replacement Bill, when it was clear he could not deliver the votes needed for it to pass.

Vice president Mike Pence speaks during a during a swearing in ceremony for US ambassador to Israel David Friedman (R) at the executive office in Washington, US, March 29, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Washington: Top White House officials met moderate and conservative Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday in an effort to revive a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Key members of the administration, including vice president Mike Pence, invited a group of moderate Republicans known as the “Tuesday Group” to the White House. Pence then went to Capitol Hill to meet the Freedom Caucus, a group of House conservatives who last month derailed a healthcare bill backed by President Donald Trump.

The White House would like to see a revised bill come up for a vote as early as week’s end, before the House breaks for a spring recess, and the text of the new proposal could be ready some time on Tuesday, lawmakers said.

“It was clear the president would be very happy come Friday to have this passed,” said US representative Chris Collins, a member of the Tuesday Group and a Trump ally.

“This could move fairly quickly,” he said.

Just ten days ago, House speaker Paul Ryan was forced to cancel a vote on a bill to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, when it was clear he could not deliver the votes needed for it to pass.

The defeat was a big political setback for Trump and fellow Republicans in congress who were elected on pledges to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

Freedom Caucus members said the Republican bill was too similar to Obamacare, while moderate Republicans balked at some of the changes conservatives sought.

Trump attacked Freedom Caucus members on Twitter late last week for their opposition to the bill and threatened to work to defeat them in the 2018 congressional elections.

At the weekend, he struck a more conciliatory tone, tweeting early on Sunday: “Talks on repealing and replacing Obamacare are, and have been, going on, and will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck.”

After golfing with the president on Sunday, Republican senator Rand Paul, a sharp critic of the Republicans’ previous healthcare bill, also expressed renewed hope the healthcare bill could be revised in a way that picked up support from the conservative and moderate factions of the Republican party.

Paul told reporters he was “very optimistic that we are getting closer and closer to an agreement repealing Obamacare.”

Key provisions

Pence and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus laid out the administration’s revised healthcare plan during a 40-minute meeting with Freedom Caucus members, said congressman Mark Meadows, the leader of the conservative group.

Meadows said he was “intrigued” by the new plan, which would allow states to opt out of some of Obamacare’s mandates, possibly by obtaining waivers.

“We’re encouraged … but would certainly need a whole lot more information before we can take any action either in support or in opposition,” Meadows told reporters. He expected to see a detailed draft of the proposal within 24 hours, he said.

In the earlier meeting with the moderate Tuesday Group, White House officials said the new plan would preserve Obamacare’s essential health benefits clause, or services and care that insurers must cover, but states could apply for a waiver if they could show it would improve coverage and reduce costs, according to Collins.

Trump aides also discussed directing funds from the $115 billion stability fund for states into high-risk pools for people with pre-existing health conditions to better ensure insurance premiums come down in cost, Collins said.

“It’s an acknowledgement that they were chasing votes with the Freedom Caucus and the far right and then ended up losing votes with those of us who are typically the most reliable votes,” Collins said of the proposal provisions discussed at the meeting.

(Reuters)

Trump Attacks Rebel Conservatives as Disarray Within Republican Party Deepens

The discord following the healthcare debacle has not been limited to tensions between Trump and the Freedom Caucus – a bloc of conservatives in the House.

US President Donald Trump talks to journalists at the Oval Office of the White House after the AHCA health care bill was pulled before a vote in Washington, US, March 24, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Washington: US President Donald Trump lashed out on Thursday at Republican conservatives who helped torpedo healthcare legislation he backed, escalating a feud within his party that jeopardises the new administration’s legislative agenda.

Trump threatened to try to defeat members of the Freedom Caucus – a bloc of conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives – in next year’s congressional elections if they continued to defy him.

“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning.

He later singled out three Freedom Caucus members by name, US Representatives Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and Raul Labrador.

“If @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform,” he said in one tweet.

“Where are @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador?

#RepealANDReplace #Obamacare,” he asked in another.

House conservatives fought back.

Labrador, one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus, urged Trump in a tweet to “Remember who your real friends are. We’re trying to help you succeed.”

“Most people don’t take well to being bullied,” said representative Justin Amash, who compared Trump’s approach to what a child does when he wants to “get his way.”

Trump’s deteriorating relationship with Republican House conservatives could make it harder for him to pass his legislative agenda, which includes rewriting the US tax code, revisiting a healthcare overhaul and funding construction of a wall along the US-Mexican border.

Trump, a New York businessman who touted his skills as a dealmaker in his bid for the White House, has repeatedly criticised Freedom Caucus members, blaming them for the defeat of legislation to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

Freedom Caucus members said the bill did not go far enough to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

Asked during a briefing whether Trump’s tweet about the Freedom Caucus was a “divide-and-conquer” strategy, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: “No, it’s a math strategy, which is to get to 216,” the number of votes currently needed to pass House legislation.

The discord following the healthcare debacle was not limited to tensions between Trump and the Freedom Caucus. In recent days, the president has been out of sync with the two highest ranking Republicans in congress, House speaker Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump and his aides have suggested reviving the push for a healthcare bill. While Ryan expressed openness to the idea, McConnell said he thought doing so would be futile.

But Ryan publicly disagreed with Trump when the president offered to work with Democrats on new healthcare legislation.

“I don’t want that to happen,” the speaker told CBS in an interview aired on Thursday.

‘Not an ideal position’

More than healthcare legislation was at stake.

Republican lawmakers still await key details on what Trump’s priorities are in the monumental tax reform effort they want to launch.

Passing a budget for next year could also prove challenging. Trump and the Freedom Caucus want to dramatically shrink domestic programmes. Moderate Republicans are aghast at proposals to cut popular programs that fund environmental cleanup and meals for senior citizens.

Most pressing is an April 28 deadline for approving new funding to keep the government running.

“The GOP (Republican) House is riven by factions that are quite ideological. Trump is not,” said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato. “And let’s throw in the fact that Trump is unpopular and weak and has no Democratic support in congress.

“Add all this up. Neither Trump nor congressional Republicans are in an ideal position to govern, and that’s an understatement,” Sabato said.

There are about three dozen members of the House Freedom Caucus, comprising about 15% of the 237 House Republicans. But their clout is larger, as Trump and Ryan cannot afford to lose too many House Republicans if they want to try to pass bills, like the Obamacare repeal, that attract zero Democratic support.

Dan Meyer, a legislative affairs chief to former Republican President George W. Bush, said that with the Freedom Caucus threatening Trump’s agenda, the White House either had to find a way to work with the conservatives, or tack to the left.

Some Republicans were so furious they were publicly saying things usually reserved for closed-door meetings.

Representative Chris Collins, a Trump ally and part of the “Tuesday Group” of moderate Republicans, told reporters his group was so angry with the Freedom Caucus that it would “never” meet with it. He accused its members of trying to shift blame for the healthcare failure to moderates.

Senators cringe

Senate Republicans expressed alarm and urged efforts at consensus.

Senator John McCain, who ran for president in 2008 and was defeated by Obama, said that if he were sitting in the White House, he would try to ease intra-party tensions rather than stoking them.

“But that’s the president,” said McCain who sometimes is at odds with Trump. He added this advice to Trump: “Sit down with them and say this is an emergency situation.”

Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican who served in the House from 2011 to 2014, said his former colleagues needed to quit arguing and come to a consensus “sooner rather than later.”

A senior House Republican aide distanced Ryan from Trump’s strategy of upbraiding conservatives.

“Ryan … is never going to intentionally alienate a large swath of his caucus,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Publicly, Ryan said he understood Trump’s frustration. The speaker also said he was encouraging Republican lawmakers “to keep talking to one another.”

Republican senator Bob Corker chided Ryan, however, for his views about courting Democrats on healthcare reform.

“We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president not to work with the other party to solve a problem,” Corker wrote on Twitter.

(Reuters)

Trump Threatens to Leave Obamacare in Place if Republicans Don’t Support Healthcare Plan

It was not clear late on Thursday evening that Trump and the Republican leaders who crafted the Bill had enough support to pass it, meaning they now risk defeat in their first attempt at major legislation.

US President Donald Trump smiles while attending a women in healthcare panel at the White House in Washington, US, March 22, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Washington: US President Donald Trump warned House Republican lawmakers that he will leave Obamacare in place and move on to tax reform if they do not get behind new healthcare legislation and support it in a vote on Friday.

It was not clear late on Thursday evening that Trump and the Republican leaders who crafted the bill had enough support to pass it, meaning they now risk defeat in their first attempt at major legislation and may fail to deliver on a key campaign pledge.

“We have been promising the American people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it’s collapsing and it’s failing families, and tomorrow we’re proceeding,” House speaker Paul Ryan told reporters after an evening all-hands meeting. He ignored reporters who asked if he had secured the votes to pass the bill.

Ryan and leaders in the House of Representatives were forced to postpone a vote on their healthcare bill, formally called the American Health Care Act, earlier on Thursday, dealing Trump an embarrassing setback.

The vote had been symbolically planned for the anniversary of former Democratic President Barack Obama signing his namesake healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, in 2010. It was supposed to have been Trump‘s first legislative victory.

Trump and his fellow Republicans had pledged to replace Obamacare, which they view as too intrusive and too expensive.

But, after a week of calling Republican lawmakers and bringing them into the Oval Office for meetings, Trump failed to close the deal with two different factions within his party on time for the planned Thursday vote.

Conservatives felt the bill did not go far enough to repeal Obamacare and moderates felt the plan could hurt their constituents. House Republican leaders had signaled they were ready to work through the weekend to figure out a way to reconcile their differences.

As the healthcare drama unfolded on Capitol Hill, Trump played it cool, taking a break from negotiations to hang out with some truckers, climbing into the cab of a long-haul transport truck parked on the back driveway of the White House, and blowing the horn a few times.

He told reporters the vote would be close but he remained optimistic. “I think we’re doing well. We’ll find out in about three hours,” he said, just as reports began to surface that the vote had been postponed.

By evening, Trump sent his top lieutenants to a dramatic meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday night with an ultimatum: he was done talking. According to representative Chris Collins of New York, a top Trump ally, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told House Republicans that Trump wanted a vote.

“The president has said he wants a vote tomorrow, up or down,” Collins said.

“If for any reason it is down, we are just going to move forward with additional parts of his agenda” such as tax reform, Collins told reporters after leaving the meeting.

However, the vote has been seen by financial markets as a crucial test of Trump‘s ability to work with Congress to deliver on his other priorities, such as tax cuts and infrastructure spending.

Even if their replacement plan does eventually get approval from the House, the legislation faces a potentially tough fight in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The House and Senate had hoped to deliver a new healthcare bill to Trump by April 8, when Congress is scheduled to begin a two-week spring break.

House Ways and Means Chairman rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) leaves the office of speaker Paul Ryan ahead of a crucial vote on the Affordable Care Act at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, US March 23, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Getting to yes?

The Republicans have a majority in the House but, because of united Democratic opposition, can afford to lose only 21 Republican votes. By Thursday morning, NBC News said that 30 Republicans had planned to vote “no” or were leaning that way.

North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows, the chairman of the pivotal conservative bloc known as the Freedom Caucus, said he and others were struggling to support the plan.

“I am desperately trying to get to ‘yes’ and I think the president knows that. I told him that personally,” Meadows said. However, after Thursday night’s meeting, he was still a ‘no’.

Obamacare aimed to boost the number of Americans with health insurance through mandates on individuals and employers, and income-based subsidies. Some 20 million Americans gained insurance coverage through the law.

The House replacement plan would rescind the taxes created by Obamacare, repeal a penalty against people who do not buy coverage, slash funding for the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled, and modify tax subsidies that help individuals buy plans.

House leaders agreed to four pages of last-minute amendments to the bill, including allowing states to choose which “essential benefits” are required in healthcare insurance plans, and keeping a 0.9% surcharge on Medicare for high-income Americans for six years. It was unclear whether that was enough.

Representative Trent Franks, a Freedom Caucus member who had been “undeclared” on his position on the bill, said he liked the changes. “It’s going in the right direction,” Franks said outside the House.

The amendments will give states more money for maternal health and mental health, said representative Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska moderate who still has not said how he will vote.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney arrive for a meeting about the American Health Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 23, 2017. Credit: Reuters

Markets watching closely

Uncertainty over the healthcare bill rattled financial markets this week. The delay in the house vote is likely to extend the ups and downs in the stocks of some hospital groups and health insurers.

US stock markets rose steadily in recent months on optimism over a pro-business Trump agenda but fell back sharply on Tuesday as investors worried that failure to push through the healthcare bill could postpone other business-friendly Trump priorities.

“Delay on healthcare equates to delay on tax cuts. That is why the market turned red when the news flow suggested they didn’t have a deal,” said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors, a money management firm.

Others said it was too soon to panic.

“If this thing gets materially delayed or if we get a ‘no’ vote, we’re going to see a horrific market reaction. But if they vote in the morning and it passes, we’ll have a hell of a rally,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

(Reuters)