White House Still Looking for Health Care Deal

Playbook: “President Trump has said he is done with health-care reform, and is moving onto an overhaul of the tax code. But behind the scenes, top White House officials are still calling Republicans, looking for a deal on a health-care overhaul. The bill went down in flames a few weeks ago, but the thinking is that the White House can’t just give up and walk away from their central campaign promise to repeal Obamacare. The effort has left Hill Republicans scratching their heads.”

“A sharp Republican makes this observation: The White House is not so good at internal congressional dynamics. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, VP Mike Pence and HHS Secretary Tom Price — the leaders of the health-care reform effort — are all former lawmakers, but they all lost internal party elections when they were in Congress. They haven’t proven terribly adept at counting votes.”