House Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Whip Steve Scalise and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy spent the weekend calling reluctant moderates. | Getty GOP suffers surprise defection on Obamacare repeal The scramble for votes is still very much on.

President Donald Trump dialed up his campaign-trail ally Rep. Billy Long on Monday, after the Missouri Republican announced his decision to vote against the Republican plan to replace Obamacare. The goal was straightforward: Persuade Long to change his mind.

It didn't work. Though Long hails from a deeply conservative district that overwhelmingly backed Trump over Hillary Clinton in November, and Long supported earlier versions of the legislation, the president's entreaties fell short, GOP insiders said.


It was an unexpected blow for House GOP leaders and the White House, who were bullish over the weekend that they were on the cusp of clinching the votes to pass the legislation. Instead, the scramble for support is still very much on.

“I have always stated that one of the few good things about Obamacare is that people with pre-existing conditions would be covered," Long said in a statement. "The MacArthur amendment strips away any guarantee that pre-existing conditions would be covered and affordable,” he added, referring to the last-ditch compromise between conservatives and House moderate Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.).

And the task was made even harder by an unforced error from Trump. The president told Bloomberg News in an interview Monday morning that the bill might change to provide more protections to people with preexisting conditions. “It’s not in its final form right now,” he said. Trump's comments frustrated the House whip effort, as some members interpreted them to mean the president was reopening negotiations.

“I don’t know if there are going to be any kinds of changes,” said Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who opposes the AHCA, as he exited a meeting of Ryan’s whip team.

By late evening Monday, Trump was calling lawmakers to walk back his comments.

Even after Trump’s failed attempt to persuade Long, House leaders said they hoped to convince the Missouri lawmaker to change his mind. “I think we just need to sit down with Billy,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “I’d like to see Billy on the bill.” Trump, too, has begun calling around to other members as he and House leaders attempt to shore up enough support for the bill.

Other House leaders downplayed the significance of Long’s defection, which came as Vice President Mike Pence headed to the Capitol to discuss health care with Republican lawmakers, and members of the GOP whip team met to gauge support for the bill.

“Billy’s been outside the ‘yes’ column for a while now, [he] just hadn’t been public,” said House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Asked whether Long’s rejection portended additional defections, Scalise said, “There’s others that have questions that we’re getting them answered on. The work still goes on.”

Scalise’s assessment follows a similar attempt by the White House to lower expectations after a weekend of making lofty pronouncements of imminent success.

“We’re not there yet,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at a press briefing Monday afternoon, hours after other top White House officials all but predicted an imminent legislative victory for Trump.

“I think the president has made it clear that he’s not instituting a timeline,” Spicer added. “We have a good whip count, I think we feel good about where we are and where it's headed. But ultimately [Speaker Paul Ryan] and House leadership determine when to call a vote. I think that we know when the vote gets called, we’ll feel confident it will be able to pass.”

Spicer’s measured tone was markedly more subdued than comments just hours earlier by White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and chief of staff Reince Priebus. In separate interviews on “CBS This Morning,” the two senior White House hands drove expectations for House action on health care.

"Do we have the votes for health care? I think we do," said Cohn.

Priebus said he expected the vote “this week” and said it would be “one of the fastest pieces of signature legislation to go through for a president since [Franklin] Roosevelt." Trump himself seemed to suggest over the weekend that the House already had enough votes to pass the measure last week.

"I think they could have voted on Friday," he said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

But on Monday, Trump told Bloomberg News that the bill is "not in its final form right now," and said, "It will be every bit as good on pre-existing conditions as Obamacare." That potentially off-the-cuff comment seemed to undercut GOP leaders on the Hill, who have insisted the bill is in its final form.

Lawmakers return to the Capitol Monday evening where House leaders and vote-counters will once again test the level of support they have for the AHCA. Though the White House has signaled its desire for a vote on the measure by Wednesday, House leaders have insisted they’ll only move the bill when they can guarantee it will garner the 216-vote bare majority it needs to pass. GOP leaders have insisted they’re closer than ever to passing the bill, but wavering support from moderate Republicans and other scattered defections have left little margin for error.

Underscoring the difficulty House leaders are having securing the votes, a slew of lawmakers tasked by leadership with corralling support for the AHCA say they’re not yet sure how they intend to vote.

While walking into a vote-counting meeting in the basement of the Capitol Monday evening, half a dozen whips — including Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) — said they remained undecided.

Meanwhile, House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, another whip, rushed out of the meeting to avoid reporters. The New Jersey Republican previously opposed the bill, but GOP insiders said leadership and other senior House Republicans had changed his mind. Frelinghuysen refused to say how he intends to vote.

Rep. Billy Long, left, an ally of President Donald trump, told reporters he opposed the GOP health care bill, known as the American Health Care Act. | Getty

Ryan, McCarthy, Scalise and Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry spent the weekend calling reluctant moderates and connecting some with Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, former Rep. Tom Price. Vulnerable Republicans are concerned that the bill would harm people with pre-existing conditions or eliminate insurance coverage for millions on Medicaid.

Privately, Republicans on the Hill and in the White House realize this week may be their last, best shot to pass the AHCA. That’s because of renewed momentum for the bill after the endorsement of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus as well as procedural constraints.

GOP lawmakers are relying on arcane Senate budget rules in an attempt to pass their health care plan with a 51-vote majority in the Senate, rather than the typical 60-vote threshold required for most legislation.

But Republicans can’t move on to their next big priority — tax reform — without launching a new budget process and canceling out their existing authority to pass health reform at the lower threshold. That would effectively kill the measure as Democrats would certainly block any Obamacare repeal bill that requires 60 votes.