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Whip List: Obamacare Rollback Vote Nears Breaking Point

A handful more GOP opponents would doom measure

House Freedom Caucus members, from left, Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio make their way to a procedural vote in the Capitol on Friday before the vote on the Republican health care bill. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
House Freedom Caucus members, from left, Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio make their way to a procedural vote in the Capitol on Friday before the vote on the Republican health care bill. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Enough Republicans appeared on the verge of voting against the House health care overhaul to require frantic lobbying and send House Speaker Paul D. Ryan to the White House as floor debate got underway Friday.

At least 20 House Republicans had already signaled opposition since the end of a Thursday evening huddle with top Trump administration officials in which Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney delivered an ultimatum, saying President Donald Trump was done negotiating on partially repealing and replacing the 2010 health care law.

Anything more than a handful of announced “no” votes would doom the endeavor.

Here are Republicans who have said they’ll vote against the bill:

  1. Justin Amash of Michigan, who told CQ Roll Call.
  2. Mark Amodei of Nevada, according to CQ Roll Call.
  3. Andy Biggs of Arizona, who issued a statement.
  4. Rod Blum of Iowa, who announced his opposition on Twitter
  5. Dave Brat of Virginia, according to the Culpeper Star-Exponent.
  6. Mo Brooks of Alabama, who said so on CNN
  7. Barbara Comstock of Virginia, according to The Washington Post.
  8. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, who told CQ Roll Call.
  9. Dan Donovan of New York, according to The Washington Post.
  10. Rodney Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, who posted on Facebook.
  11. Louie Gohmert of Texas who told a Texas TV station.
  12. Andy Harris of Maryland, as reported by CQ Roll Call.
  13. Walter Jones of North Carolina, according to a tweet from ABC News.
  14. David Joyce of Ohio, according to his Twitter account.
  15. John Katko of New York, as reported by The Post-Standard of Syracuse.
  16. Leonard Lance of New Jersey, who told CQ Roll Call.
  17. Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, according to his Twitter account. 
  18. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who told CQ Roll Call.
  19. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who confirmed her position to CQ Roll Call.
  20. Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, as reported by CQ Roll Call.

Members on the list could still change their positions before Friday afternoon’s vote, but the momentum seemed to be against leadership, particularly after the announcement by Frelinghuysen, who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

As for the conservative opposition, Gohmert suggested ongoing substantial opposition to the health care bill from the House Freedom Caucus, with maybe 20 “no” votes in that conservative bloc.

“There will be at least five that will vote ‘yes,’ and there could be several more. So, we will see,” Gohmert told reporters.

Lindsey McPherson, Rema Rahman, Erin Mershon, Andrew Siddons and Joe P. Williams contributed to this list.

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