The Trump Ultimatum: House Must Vote Friday On GOP Health Plan
After days of negotiations, President Donald Trump sent a message to Capitol Hill: It's do or die. If the measure fails, he plans to pivot away from the repeal-and-replace effort and move on to his other legislative priorities.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Trump Delivers Ultimatum In Move To Pass Health Care Bill
Trump’s move was an astonishing use of power wielded at precisely the moment he appeared weakest. Amid a day of turmoil and frenzied meetings at the White House and the Capitol, the legislation, called the American Health Care Act, was on the brink of collapse. Republicans were dozens of votes short, having timed the repeal for the seventh anniversary of the day the Affordable Care Act became law. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin had postponed the vote and called a recess, his GOP factions hopelessly divided over their fundamental approach to health care. Trump’s risky move sets up a dramatic showdown on the House floor Friday. (Lochhead, 3/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Threatens To Leave Obamacare In Place If GOP Bill Fails
"The message is tomorrow it's up, it's down — we expect it to be up — but it's done tomorrow,” Mulvaney said Thursday night. It remained unclear whether Trump’s extraordinary ultimatum was real or a pressure tactic designed to bring unruly Republicans in line. Despite personal appeals from the president and a flurry of last-minute negotiations with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), wary GOP lawmakers remained unconvinced, leaving leaders shy of the votes needed to advance the legislation. (Mascaro and Levey, 3/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
In Health-Law Fight, GOP Leaders Struggle To Reconcile Factions’ Needs
After years of making the repeal of the Affordable Care Act a signature issue, Republicans are struggling to deliver on the promise, floundering amid warring factions that neither President Donald Trump nor House Speaker Paul Ryan have been able to whip into line. ... They are confronting a thorny challenge that required two things in short supply among today’s Republican rank and file: a willingness to compromise or to defer to leadership. (Hook and Epstein, 3/23)
The Associated Press:
House Sets Risky Health Care Vote After Trump Demands It
In a gamble with monumental political stakes, Republicans set course for a climactic House vote on their health care overhaul after President Donald Trump claimed he was finished negotiating with GOP holdouts and determined to pursue the rest of his agenda, win or lose. House Speaker Paul Ryan set the showdown for Friday, following a nighttime Capitol meeting at which top White House officials told GOP lawmakers that Trump had decided the time for talk was over. (Fram and Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/24)
Trump, a self-avowed dealmaker, faces high stakes in the outcome of Friday’s House vote —
The New York Times:
Trump The Dealmaker Projects Bravado, But Behind The Scenes, Faces Rare Self-Doubt
President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt. Mr. Trump has told four people close to him that he regrets going along with Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s plan to push a health care overhaul before unveiling a tax cut proposal more politically palatable to Republicans. (Thrush and Haberman, 3/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Vote’s Outcome Carries High Stakes For Trump Presidency
The health-care bill now stalled in Congress is proving an early test of whether the deal-making skills that made President Donald Trump rich in the business world will also work in the legislative realm, where lawmakers face competing pressures and require different sorts of incentives to reach agreement. (Nicholas, Lee and Radnofsky, 3/23)
Clearing the House would be just a first step since the GOP plan faces significant hurdles in the Senate —
Politico:
Trump's Obamacare Repeal Concessions Likely Can't Pass Senate
Democrats say they are certain they can kill any language in the repeal bill that erases Obamacare’s mandate for minimum benefits in insurance plans. And top Republicans are making no promise that the last-ditch changes to win over conservatives will fly in the more centrist Senate, which is beginning to write its own health care plan. (Everett and Haberkorn, 3/23)
The Washington Post:
Health-Care Overhaul Faces An Even Bigger Challenge In The Senate
Even if the House approves a GOP effort this week to repeal and replace key parts of the Affordable Care Act, the work of persuading the Senate to do the same is likely to be even harder. (Sullivan and Snell, 3/23)