30 Republicans have said they’ll vote against the GOP’s heath care bill in its current form.
House Republicans abandoned plans to vote on the new GOP health care bill Thursday, March 23, after failing to muster enough support.
Several lawmakers said the vote, which was originally slated to fall on the seven-year anniversary of the day Obamacare became law, would be pushed to Friday or maybe sometime next week.
“It didn’t look like today was going to be when we’re going to vote,” Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) said following a meeting with committee chairs and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
As of Thursday afternoon, Republican leaders still hadn’t decided whether or not to delay the pivotal vote until Friday, according to The Hill. In the days leading up to it, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan called for “all hands on deck” as they worked tirelessly to convince a number of fellow Republicans to vote in favor of the new bill.
More than two dozen GOP leaders, 30 to be exact, came out in fierce opposition to the American Health Care Act — or Trumpcare — arguing that its provisions don’t go far enough to completely gut Obama’s landmark health care policy. The GOP needs a majority-216 votes for the bill to clear the House, but 30 defections is just enough to kill it altogether.
Negotiations were still underway between Trump and members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, but by late Wednesday, caucus members said they still hadn’t reached common ground with the president. Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R.-N.C.), however, said he was still hopeful that a deal could soon be struck.
“I am very hopeful we can find a way to yes,” Meadows said.
Some Republican officials remain confident that the bill will pass sometime this week. When asked if the GOP had a plan B if the AHCA didn’t pass, White House spokesman Sean Spicer replied, “It’s gonna pass. So, that’s it.”
*This is a breaking story and will continue to be updated.
