Vice President Mike Pence's meeting Wednesday with the hard-line House Freedom Caucus to win support for the GOP healthcare plan reportedly "did not go very well."
"We came in voting no, we left voting no," Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., told The Hill.
Brooks told the outlet 25-30 Freedom Caucus members participated in the two-hour private negotiating session with senior members of the Trump administration.
"They were trying to convince us that we needed to vote for what is quick becoming the largest Republican welfare program in the history of the Republican party," Brooks told The Hill. "And quite frankly it did not go very well from the White House's point of view."
However, another Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said Wednesday night he was "optimistic" about a deal, buoyed by talks with the White House and GOP leadership involving the repeal of Obamacare's essential health benefits and other regulations to the bill, The Hill reported.
According to The Hill, House GOP leaders can only afford about 22 defections if the American Health Care Act is to pass.