One week after failing to advance the American Health Care Act
(AHCA), House GOP leaders are considering making another attempt
to vote on a revised version of the legislation. In fact,
some members have suggested that a vote could occur as early as
next week. According to House Majority Leader Kevin
McCarthy (R-CA), however, there are no immediate plans to
consider legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care
Act (ACA). The conflicting statements within the party
indicate that there is no clear legislative path forward at this
time.
In the meantime, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has encouraged
Republican lawmakers to continue working toward a solution.
For his part, President Trump provided some additional incentive
to the conservative wing of the party by tweeting Thursday
morning that he would work to defeat members of the conservative
House Freedom Caucus if they did not begin to support the
Republican agenda. To that end, caucus members have reached
out to their moderate colleagues in the so-called “Tuesday Group”
in an effort to negotiate some sort of compromise. However,
the Tuesday Group has collectively decided that their members
will not directly enter into talks with the Freedom Caucus.
