Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) said the conservative group was asking for too much. | Getty Rep. Poe explains why he split from the House Freedom Caucus

Rep. Ted Poe, the congressman who resigned from the House Freedom Caucus over its unwillingness to support White House-backed legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, said Monday morning that the arch-conservative group was guilty of moving the goal posts for the bill’s backers.

The repeal-and-replace measure, labeled the American Health Care Act, was supported by House leadership and the administration of President Donald Trump but failed to muster enough support among rank-and-file Republicans to pass. House Speaker Paul Ryan and the president agreed Friday to cancel a scheduled vote on the legislation once it became clear that it would not have the votes.


The bill ultimately failed thanks in no small part to the Freedom Caucus, whose members generally opposed it because it did not go far enough in undoing certain provisions of Obamacare. Poe (R-Texas), one of a handful of Freedom Caucus members to support the legislation, said the conservative group was asking for too much.

“The president, Speaker Ryan, came to the Freedom Caucus and made some changes that we wanted several times,” Poe said in an interview Monday morning on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.” “But no matter what changes were made, the goal post kept getting moved and at the end of the day, ‘no’ was the answer. And sometimes you’re going to have to say yes.”

Poe announced his resignation from the Freedom Caucus on Sunday, writing in a statement that “saying no is easy, leading is hard, but that is what we were elected to do.” He said caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) wanted Poe to remain with the caucus, but the Texas legislator said “it's best for me, and even for the caucus that I not be a member of the Freedom Caucus.”

“It was unfortunate that even though changes and we were included, the Freedom Caucus decided that ‘no’ was going to be the answer,” he said. “At some time we're going to have to say ‘yes.’ We are in power. We need to lead.”