One day before the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill that would gut Obamacare, President Donald Trump met with Republican members.
The meeting took place March 21, and Speaker Paul Ryan and fellow Republicans in the House are holding a press conference to speak of the progress on the bill before the vote. The press conference begins at 10 a.m. EST and can be watched in its entirety in the video above.
Trump told members of the House GOP during the meeting that if they don’t vote in favor of the bill and get it through, their jobs will be at stake during the next election cycle
Trump: House majority could be cooked if health care fails: “Many of you will lose you seats in 2018 if you don’t get this done.”
The GOP needs 216 votes in the House in order for the “American Health Care Act” to pass and move on to the Senate for discussion and a possible vote.
Late in the evening March 20, House Republicans made tweaks to the legislation to try and get enough support for the vote. The changes helped lower concern with some Republicans in the House and ranged from “the flexibility it would give states to adminster their Medicaid programs to the amount of aid it would offer older Americans to buy insurance,” The Washington Post reported.
Negotiations between Republicans and Trump have been ongoing since the legislation was drafted. Also on March 20, the bill overcame an obstacle many thought it would have a hard time getting past.
The House Freedom Caucus, who had threatened to not support the bill, decided that it would not take a position against it. It had threatened to do so because the group didn’t think the “American Health Care Act” did enough to rid the U.S. of the Affordable Care Act.
