Vice President Mike Pence this week has been out in front on healthcare, getting conservatives and Republican moderates talking again about Obamacare repeal legislation, according to reports.
Though they haven't reached a substantive middle ground, House Republicans are at least mulling an emergency committee meeting before Congress breaks for its two-week Easter recess, Politico reported.
Pence's modest gains of getting lawmakers to the table comes amid conservative groups going on the offensive to give President Donald Trump a different Twitter target — moderate Republicans.
"I think the Tuesday Group clearly wants to keep Obamacare in place," Heritage Action CEO Mike Needham said, the Washington Examiner reported. "Pressure needs to be put on the Tuesday Group to get to yes."
"Conservatives, including the Club for Growth, were willing to accept the latest deal that would let states seek regulation waivers, but moderates want Obamacare largely left intact," Club for Growth president David McIntosh said, the Examiner reported.
"This is big-government liberalism at work among House Republicans and Speaker Ryan is letting them run his conference."
The challenge for Pence and House Republicans is the same — peeling away enough of the Obamacare mandates that conservatives loathe while leaving in place enough that the Tuesday group will accept.
One such policy is the community rating. Conservatives think scuttling it will bring down premiums overall; moderates fear premiums will go up for the old and sick, the Examiner reported.
Pence is "a nice guy and he gets it, but there are still some political realities here," a Republican congressional aide said of Pence's efforts, according to the Examiner.
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