For those of our readers who are gluttons for punishment, here is a live stream of the House debate which will carry on (and on and on...) for the next several hours. Updates will be posted below throughout the day.
http://livestream.com/accounts/300260/events/4962941/player
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Update 1: As largely expected, the House Rules Committee has just signed off on the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal plan, with a 9-3 vote, which clears the path for a showdown vote later today. The panel was the bill’s final stop before heading for a floor vote.
As of now, the plan is to begin debate on the healthcare bill at 10AM EST. There is expected to be a 1 hour debate on rules and then 4 hours of general debate which sets the House up for a procedural vote around 11:15 am EST and a final vote expected around 4.45 pm.
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Yesterday was undoubtedly a debacle of a day for Republicans which ultimately culminated with the failure of the Trump administration and Paul Ryan to secure a sufficient number of votes from the House Freedom Caucus to pass their healthcare bill (we covered the chaos here). And after the day of misery, team Trump decided that they would rather not continue the political charade in perpetuity and instead decided to offer conservatives in the House an ultimatum: vote tomorrow (i.e. today) or "I'm done with healthcare."
Which, of course, would seem to be a negotiating tactic taken directly for The Art of the Deal 101:
“The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it.” - The Art of the Deal
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2013
Meanwhile, the Associated Press seemed to sum up the gravity of today's vote the best, referring to it simply as a "gamble with monumental political stakes."
"In a gamble with monumental political stakes, Republicans set course for a climactic House vote on their health care overhaul after President Donald Trump claimed he was finished negotiating with GOP holdouts and determined to pursue the rest of his agenda, win or lose."
With all that said, per Fox News, after a few procedural moves, the House will likely vote on Trumpcare sometime in the mid-to-late afternoon with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) predicting that the vote will wrap up by 4:30 or 5 p.m. ET.
As we pointed out yesterday, the TrumpCare vote is the first high-stakes political battle of Trump's Presidency and pits Trump against the more conservative elements of the Republican Party. For Trump, failure to pass healthcare reform would be a major blow as it was a signature component of his campaign and could signal that he will face an uphill battle against the Freedom Caucus to implement other policy initiatives. For conservatives, they must choose between supporting their party and a bill that has been dubbed "Obamacare-lite" at the risk of alienating powerful conservative funders, like the Koch Brothers and their various Super PACs, which got them elected in the first place.
Meanwhile, "round-the-clock" negotiations continue as the White House and mainstream Republicans attempt to sway some last minute votes.
Meanwhile, Trump met inside the Cabinet room with the Freedom caucus to try and rally conservatives to the cause. He also tweeted, urging supporters to call their representatives to back the bill.
A senior administration official told Fox News after the meeting with Trump and the conservative group that there was a deal in the works, but that it was not yet finalized. A source from the Freedom Caucus later said there wasn't yet a deal.
"I would say progress is being made, and that progress should be applauded with the efforts by the White House to deliver on a campaign promise, and to lower premiums for every American from coast to coast and in between," Meadows said. He also called Trump's involvement "unparalleled in the history of our country."
And while it's almost impossible to predict how today's vote will turn out, Goldman Sachs is pegging the chances of success at 60%.
The House vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) has been delayed due to a lack of support. Our subjective odds of passage in the House before the upcoming two-week congressional recess, which begins April 7, are 60%. This is slightly lower than our last estimate, in part because there appears to be somewhat greater-than-expected opposition among centrist Republicans, in addition to the well-known opposition among members of the conservative "Freedom Caucus"
Meanwhile, Trump started his lobbying efforts early on twitter.
After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2017
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2017
So, grab your popcorn and flip on C-SPAN...should be a fun Friday.