US President Donald Trump, the author of the best-selling book The Art of the Deal is about to see his dealmaking abilities ratified in a legislative showdown on the US House of Representatives floor — or dramatically rebuffed.
Trump, in a message relayed by White House officials, demanded that House Republican leaders yesterday vote on a Republican Party-backed healthcare bill embraced by the US president, placing the legislation on the brink of failure and jeopardizing his vow to repeal and replace former US president Barack Obama’s healthcare law.
By gambling on passing the major healthcare bill without the votes in hand, the former casino owner is staking the trajectory of his presidency on a roll of the dice, betting Republicans will go along rather than stand in the way of the long-sought repeal of Obamacare.
White House officials told lawmakers they would leave the healthcare law in place if the vote fails.
Trump’s ultimatum came after US House Republicans delayed a planned vote on the bill, a sign of possible defeat.
In the weeks leading up to Thursday, Trump did his best to arm-twist resistant conservatives and moderates opposed to the legislation.
He revived his campaign rallies to remind the voters, and their representatives, of the Republican Party’s promises.
He invited Republican lawmakers to the White House, having his advisers join them for bowling and pizza nights and cajoling them over the telephone.
Famous for his lack of sleep, the US president called lawmakers late into the night on Wednesday in search of votes.
On Thursday, the US president met with the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and the moderate Tuesday Group at the White House — but the lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill without a deal.
Seeking a conclusion, Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney told US lawmakers it was time to vote and to move on.
Earlier in the day, Trump dismissed the deadlock as pure “politics.”
However, even allies said, politics is his new business and he might still have a learning curve.
“I think he’s probably discovering that the relationships on the Hill and the various groups are more challenging to negotiate than you would have thought and there’s more history than he would have thought,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump supporter. “There are a lot of people who don’t trust each other.”
Gingrich said that if the House was unable to win passage in the coming days, “then they have to take a deep breath and take a little longer.”
To be certain, all aspiring presidents campaign on their ability to get things done and many newly elected presidents later discover it is harder than it looks.
Still, the stakes for the US president are high. Trump has referred to the healthcare legislation as the linchpin to an ambitious legislative agenda to overhaul the tax system and rebuild roads and bridges. A legislative defeat on healthcare only two months into his presidency would put into doubt his ability to win passage for those priorities and contradict the “Promises Made, Promises Kept” signs that have dotted his recent rallies.
It would also leave in disarray a young presidency already marked by a court challenges to a signature immigration policy, internal White House disputes, leaks, ethics questions and an FBI investigation into whether his campaign associates coordinated with the Russians leading up to last year’s election.
Those are not Trump’s only troubles. He is negotiating with some US lawmakers who have little incentive to cut a deal with an embattled president.
Several of the lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus outperformed Trump in their deeply conservative districts, leaving them scant reason to worry about retribution in the next election.
Conservative organizations like FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Action and Tea Party Patriots oppose the plan — frequently calling it “Obamacare lite” — even after the facetime with Trump.
That gives conservatives the backup to go against the US president even in congressional districts that Trump won overwhelmingly.
The White House has made concessions to conservatives, offering to amend the bill to axe key Obamacare provisions that guarantee insurance coverage of maternity care, mental health services, regular checkups and other essentials.
In a sign of the tug-of-war that the bill has created within the party, the concessions pushed some moderates away. The future of the provisions remain fluid.
For a president who frequently holds grudges, Trump has yet to openly threaten dissenters with potential primary challenges.
Only on Thursday did he use his massive Twitter feed to urge the public to pressure their members of the US Congress to back the plan.
The White House refused to entertain the possibility of failure.
Even as Republican lawmakers prepared to cancel a Thursday vote on the legislation, Trump maintained that the bill still had a chance to pass the House.
“It’s going to be a very close vote,” he told a meeting with trucking executives and drivers
In a meeting with governors last month, the US president appeared to express surprise about the system’s complexity.
“I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” Trump said. “Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.”
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