Conservatives rebel on health care repeal

WASHINGTON -- Republicans confronted a conservative rebellion in their party Tuesday over their long-promised plans to repeal and replace the health care law, and they beseeched President Donald Trump to settle the dispute.

"He's the leader on this issue right now; he's the one that's got to hold us together," said Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida as he left a meeting during which he said Republican leaders urged the rank-and-file to "'stay strong"' on the issue and told them: "Now is not the time to back down."

The pep talk from leadership came amid signs of serious trouble for the emerging House GOP health-care plan even before legislation officially is released.

Conservatives are objecting to new tax credits that would help consumers buy health care, arguing they amount to a costly new entitlement.

Influential House conservatives said there's no way the approach can pass the House.

The dispute comes a month into Trump's presidency and seven years after the Affordable Care Act passed a Democratic-controlled Congress with Barack Obama in the White House.

Now the Republicans are in charge of the White House and Congress. Yet, having spent all those intervening years promising to uproot the law and replace it with something better, they find themselves flailing and divided at the moment of truth.

Several Republican lawmakers all but begged Trump to endorse a plan.

"What the president can say is that the plan that gets presented to the conference is the one you need to vote 'yes' on," said GOP Rep. Bill Flores of Texas. "That's how he can be helpful."

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin sought to put a positive face on the divisions.

"I feel at the end of the day, when we get everything done and right, we're going to be unified," he said.

For now, most evidence is to the contrary.

After a recess week filled with raucous town-hall meetings, lawmakers' return to the Capitol this week put deep divisions on display.

The two leading conservative groups in the House announced their opposition to House leadership health-care plans based on a leaked draft and reports the bill would cost more than expected while covering fewer people than the Affordable Care Act.

And three key conservative senators, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, added their voices in opposition, announcing they will resist "Obamacare Lite" and "accept nothing less than full repeal of Obamacare."

"I think we have the votes now to tell the leadership that this is what we want to do," Paul said on a conference call with House conservative leaders Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky summoned Republicans to a meeting this afternoon to hash things out.

"The goal is for the administration, the House and the Senate to be in the same place," he said Tuesday.

On health care, "We're not there yet," he said.

Health care is far from the only issue dividing Republicans. Plans to overhaul the tax code have them tied in knots, and senior lawmakers are busy throwing cold water on Trump's budget proposal, which was made public in broad outlines on Monday. The budget envisions a huge $54 billion surge in U.S. military spending while slashing domestic programs and foreign aid.

Asked Tuesday whether the Senate could pass a budget that slashes the State Department budget by a third as Trump envisions, McConnell replied shortly: "Probably not."

GOP Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, said the budget as presented could not possibly pass the House, either.

"No, no. There's a lot of members that have a lot of interest in a lot of these programs," Simpson said. "There's more to our government than just defense."

Yet for defense hawks, Trump's Pentagon spending didn't go far enough. Sen. John McCain of Arizona complained that Trump's plans represented just a small increase over Obama's own Pentagon wish list.

And, Trump's budget would leave large deficits intact while sparing Social Security and Medicare, the entitlements that make up an enormous and growing share of the federal budget. That puts Trump in direct conflict with Ryan and other leading Republicans who've long advocated adjusting entitlement programs to put them on a more sustainable footing and get deficits under control.

Ryan himself, pressed on whether he still favored reforming entitlements, something that has been his legislative calling card for years, claimed that repealing and replacing Obamacare actually qualifies as entitlement reform.

Republicans hope for clarity on all these issues and more from Trump Tuesday night.

"More than anyone else the president will drive what happens next," said GOP Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina.