Hmmm. What’s wrong with this picture many would ask?
Appreciated joining @POTUS for meeting with the Freedom Caucus again today. This is it. #PassTheBill pic.twitter.com/XG6lQIy5a6
— Vice President Pence (@VP) March 23, 2017
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see how clearly unbalanced the situation is. Vice President Pence was happy tweeting a photo of the event which included Members of the House Freedom Caucus meeting at the White House. The all male group assembled there to discuss the fate of maternity coverage in health care plans Thursday with President Trump.
One of the huge adjustments would be no longer requiring insurance companies to offer maternity care in all health plans. That is not sitting pretty with women like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) She is fuming, saying that “Stripping guaranteed maternity care is a pregnancy tax, pure and simple.”
Lengthy standing ovation from the Freedom Caucus when @POTUS walked into the Cabinet Room just now. Big momentum toward #RepealAndReplace. pic.twitter.com/N1FLGAVFMN
— Cliff Sims (@CSims45) March 23, 2017
The issue of mammograms also came up during the meeting with a joke by one senator. When weighing whether mammograms should be considered “essential” treatments covered by all health insurance policies under the Republican proposal, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) wisecracked that, “I wouldn’t want to lose my mammograms.” Roberts later apologized. The senator supports tossing out the mammogram requirement, by the way.
Meanwhile, the House is scheduled to vote Friday afternoon on the Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The GOP is reportedly scrambling to get the bill passed, and its fate remains in limbo.
A rare look inside the GOP’s women’s health caucus. https://t.co/SgLmvSpeSM
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) March 23, 2017
Republicans maintain a 52-to-48 advantage in the Senate, but at least 12 Republicans are undecided on the legislation to repeal Obamacare.
If the GOP plan backfires and doesn’t receive the necessary votes, then President Trump will have suffered defeat in his first effort to help pass major legislation.
One reporter asked President Trump Friday morning at the Oval Office what his next step would be if the bill fails. Trump spoke these words, “We’ll see what happens.”