Another Freedom Caucus member, Justin Amash of Michigan, said he’s confident the group will largely hold together to block the bill after leaders ignored their demands.
“We’ve made suggestions all the way through,” he said Monday night. “If they don’t want to listen to them then that’s on them.”
Representative Phil Roe, a member of the Republican vote-counting team, said Trump’s visit may help “any wavering souls.”
“It’s gonna be a close vote I think, but I think it’s going to pass,” said Roe.
House leaders were working hard to to win over remaining holdouts, both conservatives and moderates in their party, a process known as whipping votes.
‘A Whip That’s 10 Feet Long’
“They’re already whipping with a whip that’s 10 feet long and five feet wide,” Meadows said when asked if GOP leaders were trying to pick off individual members of the Freedom Caucus.
An outcry followed the introduction of the GOP bill, which would cut assistance for people buying insurance, roll back the Medicaid program for the poor and lead 24 million more Americans to be uninsured in 2026 than under Obamacare, according to one analysis. Swelling numbers of people unable to pay their medical bills would take billions of dollars out of the health-care system, pressuring hospitals, insurers and other health-care companies.
House leaders expect an updated analysis of the bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before lawmakers vote on it, Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady told reporters Monday.
Ryan and his GOP lieutenants can afford to lose no more than 21 votes in the chamber, presuming all Democrats vote against the bill.