Trump takes aim at Freedom Caucus over defeat of GOP health care plan
WASHINGTON — Despite calling Freedom Caucus members friends last week, President Trump seemed to take aim Sunday at the Republican hard-line conservatives and blame them in part for the collapse of the party’s health care repeal plan.
“Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!’’ Trump tweeted early Sunday.
The tweet came on the heels of a major blow for Republicans when leaders pulled Friday their plan to replace and repeal the Affordable Care Act, because they didn't have enough GOP support to pass the measure. Several moderate Republicans and members of the Freedom Caucus vowed not to support it. All the Democrats were expected to vote against it.
Freedom Caucus members defended their positions, saying the plan pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., cost too much and didn't do enough to repeal the law. Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the caucus, didn't directly challenge's Trump charge, but said it's "incumbent upon'' moderates and conservatives to come together.
"I can tell you as I've looked at all of this, I said, could I have spent a little bit more time, should I have spent more time with the Tuesday Group, more time with Democrats to find some consensus,'' Meadows, R-N.C., said on ABC’s This Week. "As we look at this today, this is not the end of the debate."
The Tuesday Group consists of more moderate House Republicans.
Trump said Friday he was surprised there wasn’t more support from the Freedom Caucus, but he didn’t blame them for deciding not to vote on the bill.
“I’m disappointed, but they’re friends of mine,’’ he said then. ‘’It’s a very hard time for them and very hard vote. But they’re very good people."
Democrats were quick to jump on the defeat. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called it "a victory for all Americans."
Meadows said Democrats shouldn't consider the fight over.
“If they're applauding, they shouldn't, because I can tell you that conversations over the last 48 hours are really about how we come together in the Republican conference and try to get this over the finish line," he said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats are willing to work with Republicans on an effort to improve the ACA.
“We have ideas. They have ideas, to try to improve Obamacare,” Schumer said on This Week. “We never said it was perfect. We always said we'd work with them to improve it. We just said repeal was off the table.”
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Trump's anti-Freedom Caucus tweet followed another Twitter burst on Saturday morning, in which he urged his Twitter followers to watch the Saturday night show of Jeanine Pirro, a Fox television show host and former prosecutor.
Pirro opened the show by calling on Ryan to step down as speaker, because he failed to delivered the votes on the GOP health care plan “the one he had seven years to work on.’’
“This is not on President Trump,’’ Pirro said.
Tweet 'coincidental'
Trump's sweet about Pirro and her call to oust Ryan were "coincidental,' said Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff and a close Ryan ally.
“There was no preplanning here,” he said on Fox News Sunday.
Priebus said Trump spoke to Ryan Saturday and doesn’t want him to step down.
“He doesn’t blame Paul Ryan,’’ he said. “In fact, he thought Paul Ryan worked really hard. He enjoyed his relationship with Paul Ryan. Thinks that Paul Ryan is a great speaker of the House. None of that has changed.”
Priebus also shot down reports that Trump blames him. “I’m not in any trouble,’’ he said.
Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said on NBC's Meet the Press that he hasn't heard Trump blame Ryan.
“The folks who voted no are the folks to blame,'' said Mulvaney, a former member of the Freedom Caucus.
Trump praised Ryan Friday for his efforts to pass the bill. He blamed Democrats for the defeat saying they will be held responsible for problems with the Affordable Care Act. "They own it; 100% own it," Trump said.
Trump, Ryan and other Republican leaders worked for days to sway their colleagues, inviting them to the White House and meeting with them behind-closed door in the Capitol.
“The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!,’’ Trump tweeted last week.
Contributing: Erin Kelly
Follow Deborah Barfield Berry at @dberrygannett.com
