Sources say moderates were upset that GOP leadership was not involved in the discussion. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Obamacare repeal talks break down in divided GOP

House Republicans’ latest last-ditch effort to revive a GOP Obamacare replacement faltered late Wednesday night after talks between conservatives and moderates broke down.

Senior members of the centrist Tuesday Group and far-right House Freedom Caucus have been trying to find a deal that would bring the two polar opposite flanks of the conference to "yes.” They met on Tuesday night, and had hoped to have another meeting Wednesday evening, but it was canceled amid sharp policy disagreements.


“There are lots of different people talking but I don’t know it has matured to the level of decisions being made,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, indicating the conference is nowhere close to a deal.

A number of members in both groups had opposed the House bill but for very different reasons: conservatives don’t think the legislation repealed enough of the 2010 health care law while centrists worried too many people would lose health insurance.

After Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the bill last Friday, GOP leaders encouraged the two sides — which effectively tanked the bill together — to get in a room and work out their differences. Leadership, however, has stayed out of the talks.

“What I’m encouraging our members to do is figuring out what solutions get us to a bill that everybody can vote for and pass,” Ryan said during a Thursday press conference. "This is too big of an issue to not get right."

But while some sources said the groups came close to a deal on Wednesday, any progress was quickly reversed. Once it became clear that leadership would not be leading the discussions, some moderates backed out, suspicious of the motives of the Freedom Caucus.

Those members balked at conservatives wanting the same repeal of Obamacare regulations that centrists were leery of axing last week. And some centrists said the hard-liners just wanted to deflect blame for tanking the bill.

“The Tuesday Group will never meet with the Freedom Caucus. Capital N-E-V-E-R,” said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), a Tuesday Group member furious with the conservative group. “It is not the role of ad hoc members to get together and suggest at all that we represent 237 members of the conference or the committees of jurisdiction. It’s just not going to happen and it shouldn’t happen.”

In fact, the Tuesday Group made a formal decision Wednesday night to not negotiate with the Freedom Caucus.

Other rank-and-file members who sit on the relevant panels privately steamed that leaders would allow lawmakers who were not on those committees to craft some kind of deal.

"We on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce spent a lot of time on that legislation, and to all of a sudden have it delegated to other members who were not on the committee, who hadn’t dedicated years on the policies, was not good," said New York Republican Tom Reed, who sits on the tax-writing panel.

Still, some conservatives expressed optimism. Freedom Caucus member Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) said, "There’s a lot of great discussion going on" and "cooler heads are prevailing."

Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker, who has also been in the room for the negotiations, agreed there's been "progress” in resurrecting the failed bill. He pegged their odds of getting a replacement passed at "a little better than 50-50."

“I’m not at liberty to say what that may or may not be,” he said, but added that lawmakers would like to see a “conclusion” to the negotiations before or during the Easter recess.

Josh Dawsey contributed to this story.