Bitter GOP finger-pointing clouds path for Trump agenda

MCEVERS: Tax reform – we’ll have more on that in a moment.

“I think if we had bipartisan [support, ] we could have a health-care bill that would be the ultimate”, Trump said.

Paul Ryan declared at his press conference of defeat that the GOP will now move on to the rest of its agenda, and that ObamaCare “will be the law of the land for the forseeable future”. “As soon as we figure out and get the votes”.

Members of the hard-right wing of the conference seemed committed to not move on from health care.

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”.

Now we have the Democrats gloating over the failure of the Republican plan and the Republicans, or at least President Trump, saying he will wait for “Obamacare” to fail. “I’m about health-cared out”.

The group of more than 30 hardline conservatives defied Republican leadership and the White House when they said they’d vote no on the legislation without major changes. With the votes not there, House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the bill without a vote Friday. While no decisions have been made on how or when to revive the measure, members expressed unity.

During the interview, Poe said that while Democrats were in power, the Freedom Caucus was the “opposition caucus”, but now that Republicans are in the majority, it “continues to be the opposition caucus against anything in the Republican Party”. They want to eliminate the essential health benefits … decimating health care for 24 million Americans.

“Our Democratic friends ought to be pretty happy about that, because we have the existing law in place”, McConnell told reporters. But documentary filmmaker and noted Democrat Michael Moore, who has been very active during Trump’s first 60 days in office and in the years leading up to his election, says that now is not the time to “gloat”.

Some Republicans – including one of the Freedom Caucus’ own – are exhausted of the Freedom Caucus and the constant negotiation they require.

Republicans mostly blame the U.S. Congress, and not President Donald Trump or party leaders, for failing to pass their party’s healthcare overhaul, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday.

Thanks to strong grass-roots activism, the seven-year effort by congressional Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act is over (for now).

The failure of the Republican House members’ effort keeps the Affordable Care Act intact. “It would be my hope to create a list of priorities to engage with our colleagues, with social media and advocacy groups, and perhaps even with the president”. But he has continued to criticize the current system and on Tuesday said he was sure there will be reforms.

Democrats may be open to it, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said only if repeal is off the table.