Rep. Dave Brat said Tuesday that President Donald Trump "put the hard sell" on House Republicans for the American Health Care Act, but "I cannot go back home with that product."
"He's great. He's a good salesman," the third-term Virginia congressman told Jake Tapper on CNN. "He was riffing and having fun.
"He is a business guy.
"My main objection still is that we have to bring the price down," Brat said. "The good businessman wants product, price, quality, service. That's the basics, right?
"If we go forward with our bill, with price increases going up . . . from the baseline from Obamacare, the voters are not going to be happy.
"I cannot go back home with that product."
The House is scheduled to vote on the Republican healthcare plan Thursday.
Brat is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has vowed to formally oppose the AHCA unless drastic changes are made to the bill by Wednesday night.
"We all want to get to 'yes' — but we cannot go back home without fixing the price piece," Brat said. "We're trying to get this right."
Brat said some of the demands sought by conservatives have been made, but he urged more time to work out differences among various Republican groups to avoid "horse-trading at the federal level."
"When you're dealing with one-sixth of the U.S. economy, you don't want to see horse-trading at the federal government because of all of our mandatory programs right now.
"This is going to create another sort of entitlement."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.