President Donald Trump on Wednesday will meet with two key House Republicans, Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who said this week that they cannot support the Obamacare repeal bill, CNN reported Wednesday morning.
Long told CNN that he and Upton will meet with Trump and that the two House lawmakers are working on a new amendment to the American Health Care Act. Politico also reported that an amendment is in the works and that Trump would meet with Long and Upton on Wednesday.
Both Long and Upton surprised Republican leaders this week when they came out against the bill now that it would include a new amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ). The amendment would allow states to apply for waivers from some Obamacare mandates.
Long, an ally of Trump, announced his opposition on Monday, saying that the “MacArthur amendment strips away any guarantee that pre-existing conditions would be covered and affordable.” The conservative group Club for Growth quickly attacked Long for opposing the bill.
Upton, a prominent Republican in the House who has worked on efforts to repeal Obamacare for years, came out against the bill on Tuesday, also citing the MacArthur amendment and concern about Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Hey, let’s vote on the bill before we even see it and w/o a score!
And they will say:
You don’t have to go to town halls
You’re not getting reelected but we would like a shot at it.
Now be a good boy and go tweet something or offend some world leader
Judging by history, he will fail spectacularly and then whine on Twitter
Donnie hasn’t figured out that he has no credibility with these guys. They know that the moment they are out the door, the probability of him changing his mind (read: “folding like a cheap suit”) is pretty high.
I highly doubt that they are going to be swayed by his “support”… and I highly doubt that they care one single iota for his “success.” Plus, if he tries his mafia tactics on them, it may boomerang big time.
He can assure them constituent’s concerns will be “beautifully” addressed in “Phase 2” of the legislation. And then he can say “Believe me.” But literally everyone in the world with a few benighted exceptions has his number at this point.