WASHINGTON — (CNN) Republican leaders plan a vote Thursday to repeal and replace much of Obamacare, optimistic that President Donald Trump can help them close the deal, multiple House Republican sources tell CNN.
Leaders continue to work toward the 216 votes needed to back the health care bill led by House Speaker Paul Ryan, and believe with some of the changes they are making they are securing additional support.
Friday morning, members of the Republican Study Committee — who have expressed serious doubts about the House’s health care bill — emerged from a meeting at the White House supportive.
“You’re looking at some of the top conservatives in the House,” he said. We stand united today to move this forward for the American people,” the chairman of the Republican Study Committee Mark Walker, R-North Carolina, told reporters Friday morning.
The timeline is still fluid and subject to change, but Republican members are being told that the current House bill is on track and being reworked to include the option for states to impose work requirements for able-bodied adults who are on Medicaid, something the RSC has been lobbying for. The RSC also was told, according to a GOP aide, that states were given the option to receive block grant funding rather than per capita funding.
Changes may also include making tax credits for older Americans more generous, an item that could win over some moderates.
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In tinkering around the edges, leadership is optimistic that they can cobble together enough votes from both corners of their party to pass their legislation next week and move it onto the Senate where it faces another set of challenges and even more narrow math.
Trump said Friday he is “100% in favor” of the health care measure.
“I just want to let the world know I am 100% in favor and these folks — and they are tough and they love their constituents and they love their country — these folks were nos, mostly nos yesterday and now every single one is a yes,” the President said.
Thursday is the seventh anniversary of President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act into law.
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