Trump Fails To Close Deal On Health Care Repeal | HuffPost Latest News - Action News
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Posted: 2017-03-21T16:34:10Z | Updated: 2017-03-21T18:57:36Z

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump made a personal pitch for his Affordable Care Act repeal bid Tuesday, promising that Republicans who vote against the bill will face political consequences.

With a House vote on the Republican plan set for Thursday, both more moderate and more conservative lawmakers are raising serious objections and questions about whether the bill can pass.

Trump argued that the partys future and by extension, his legacy is on the line. And if members did not fall in line, especially the conservatives of the House Freedom Caucus, Republicans would pay a price.

If the Freedom Caucus kills this bill, which they could, then they will have voted to continue Obamacare, which, as the president pointed out, in 2018 probably means we would lose the House and the Senate, said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.).

This is do or die on Thursday for the Republicans in the midterm election, Collins said.

Indeed, the legislative stakes are high for a new president who brings with him no experience shepherding major bills through Congress, having never served in government. Both his political capital and much of his remaining domestic legislative agenda rests on passage of this, lawmakers said. Trump seems to recognize that, and his 45-minute pitch to House Republicans came as members on both sides of the Capitol were weighing revisions to make the bill more palatable to all.

But even with these moves and the stakes Trump laid out Tuesday, the president at least so far appeared to have swayed only a few votes.

I moved from a lean no to a no, said Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), a former Trump surrogate who said he is worried undocumented immigrants would take advantage of the GOP plan.