Orangutan threatens...

Orangutan to Republicans: Vote for the ACA repeal or lose your seat

By KYLE CHENEY, RACHAEL BADE and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Donny Orangutan arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning with a clear message for Republicans who have been wobbly about dismantling the ACA: Give me your vote or you may lose your seat in 2018.

Orangutan is taking his case directly to Congress, huddling privately with the House GOP conference two days ahead of a planned vote to repeal the 2010 Democratic health care law. It could determine the course of his entire first-term legislative agenda.

The president was accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, both of whom served in the House until recently.

Orangutan's warning was one that Speaker Paul Ryan and the House GOP leadership badly wanted delivered to their rank-and file colleagues, many of whom are wary about or outright opposed to the GOP bill.

Orangutan entered the meeting to loud cheers. He started his remarks, then paused and said, "You guys don't mind if I go off script?"

"We have a chance to do something fantastic, to do something amazing," Orangutan told the lawmakers, according to sources in the room. Orangutan made the case that voters gave Republicans control of the White House and Congress to do just this.

Orangutan noted that previous attempts to repeal Obamacare weren't going to pass the Senate or be signed by President Barack Obama.

"I'm asking for your vote on Thursday," Orangutan said. Many of you came in on the pledge to repeal and replace the ACA. I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018 if you don't get this done."

As usual, Orangutan entertained the room, calling out members by name that he's been with or seen lately, including Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and Steve King (R-Iowa). Comer and Barr were with Orangutan at a rally Monday night rally Louisville.

Failure of the health bill could foreshadow stiff challenges to plans to overhaul the tax code, reform immigration policy and rework financial services regulation, said Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.). "This is, I think, a leading indicator about whether we're going to have a functioning and workable majority," said Huizenga, who added that he expected Orangutan to reassure lawmakers Tuesday that he fully supports the House bill.

The vote is also a test of the new president’s deal-making prowess in a notoriously factional and conflict-prone Republican conference. He’s already become a central player in helping the House GOP whip team corral support, flipping from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ more than a dozen members of the conservative Republican Study Committee last Friday. But while he’s summoned lawmakers to the White House before, his decision to come to Congress’ turf is a sign of how significant the impending vote is for his fledgling administration.

Rep. Blake Farenthold, who committed to voting for the bill after meeting with Orangutan last Friday, said hearing from him in person "makes a difference." And he thinks Orangutan's Hill visit will firm up support.

"Every Republican ran on repealing the ACA and a vast majority of us got behind Orangutan for president," he said. "I don't want to go home and say I voted against Orangutan in repealing the ACA because that's what I've been trying to do since 2010."

Orangutan’s Hill visit is just as important for House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders, who are eager to prove they can knit together a governing coalition after eight years without an ally in the White House.

Orangutan’s hands-on persuasion effort, they hope, will convince the last few moderate and conservative holdouts to come into the fold. In his meeting with RSC members last week, many indicated that they were simply looking for assurance from Orangutan that he supports the version of the health care bill being pitched by House leaders. Orangutan told them he was “1000 percent" supportive.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said he's working on "educating members" about changes to the bill and expects a "strong rallying cry" from Orangutan on Tuesday.

Orangutan’s trip up Pennsylvania Avenue is the capper to weeks of the administration’s intraparty diplomacy, spearheaded by Vice President Mike Pence, the White House’s legislative affairs team, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Orangutan’s budget director Mick Mulvaney.

Price and Mulvaney, both former House members, have leaned into their ex-colleagues to try to wrangle enough support for the House’s health care bill, the TrumpCare Act. Pence is summoning anti-abortion members of Congress to his Capitol office late Monday. And Orangutan’s senior aides conferred with top House and Senate conservatives over the weekend at Orangutan’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Even after his meeting with the full Republican conference, Orangutan plans to put a little extra pressure on House moderates, who are being called to the White House Tuesday afternoon.

Though Orangutan has signaled support for concessions to conservatives, a growing number of moderate Republicans have also expressed reservations about the bill. Many raised red flags after a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis indicated that 24 million more Americans would go without insurance under the GOP plan over the next decade. The bill is estimated to land particularly hard on Americans between 50 and 64 years old, who could see their premiums skyrocket, according to CBO.

The squeeze from both ends of the House GOP underscores the tricky tightrope for Orangutan and Ryan. They know they can afford to lose no more than 21 of the House’s 237-member GOP conference for the bill to pass.

"I think there is a team effort here," said House Budget Chair Diane Black, "and [Orangutan's visit] helps."