President Trump’s team met Saturday with three conservative critics of the Republican healthcare bill and failed to sway the leader of the House Freedom Caucus to support the legislation, which is heading for a vote in the House on Thursday amid wavering Republican support.
The meeting also exposed internal divisions within the White House over what direction the GOP healthcare bill should take.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, joined Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to discuss the American Health Care Act and his voting bloc’s opposition to it as written.
Two sources with the Freedom Caucus told the Washington Examiner that the discussions did little to assuage Meadows’ concerns about key provisions of the AHCA and said negotiations with the White House will likely continue until the bitter end of the legislative process.
“We are still open to negotiating but we need significant changes before we can get on board,” one congressional aide said. “House leadership has not been open to those changes.”
This source said White House officials suggested they understood the objections raised by Meadows and the two senators, but indicated that “the horse is already outta the gate” when it comes to the Obamacare repeal and replacement plan.
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At Mar-a-Lago, Bannon, Bremburg, Priebus met w/ lawmakers & sources said it showed WH's split on what to do w/ AHCA https://t.co/3TUIYpN6Du
— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) March 20, 2017
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