GOP Rep. After Health Bill Vote Delay: ‘We’re Clearly Not Quite Over The Line’

As it became clear that the House would not vote on President Donald Trump’s preferred bill to replace Obamacare Thursday, a Republican congressman admitted “we’re clearly not quite over the line.”

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) is a member of the 170-member Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus that has largely lined up behind the American Health Care Act. He has said he will support the bill.

“We’re still working toward getting them,” he told MSNBC’s Kate Snow, referring to Republican congressional votes. “I think it actually got better today, but we’re clearly not quite over the line.”

“Sometimes when you put people in from one side of the wagon, people from the other side fall out,” he continued. “It’s a tricky deal. And the fact that it has to be done through reconciliation, with very strict rules, there’s only certain things that we can send to the Senate that they can pick up with 51 votes. It’s a struggle to get it right.”

House Republican leaders attempted to swing some conservative votes Wednesday and Thursday by promising that the Senate’s version of the bill would strip away Obamacare’s Essential Health Benefits, which mandate that insurance plans cover basics like hospital stays, prescription drugs and maternity care.

Meanwhile, moderate Republicans have warned against rushing the process with arbitrary deadlines. Thursday is the seven-year anniversary of the signing of Obamacare into law.

“Is it a defeat for the Trump administration?” Snow asked. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that he expected a vote would occur by nighttime.

“No, not yet,” Cole said.

“If it ends up that we’re not able to do something, then it would be,” he continued. “But to be fair to the President, it would be more of a defeat of the Republican conference.”