House Republicans in competitive districts warned GOP leaders Thursday: We could lose our seats if you gut Obamacare to pay for a massive border, energy and tax bill.
A group of about a dozen centrist Republicans delivered the message in a meeting with GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and other senior lawmakers, according to four Republicans familiar with the meeting who were granted anonymity to speak frankly. GOP members are already concerned that they’re poised to lose their trifecta and a swath of seats in the 2026 midterms — they worry GOP efforts to pare back the Affordable Care Act could pour fuel on the fire.
Centrists conveyed to leaders in the meeting that they needed to “learn the lessons” from the last GOP attempt to undercut the Affordable Care Act in 2017, according to one of the Republicans. The party went on to lose more than 40 House seats in the 2018 midterms.
Instead, they argued, Republicans needed to embrace the GOP’s role as the working class party. Leaders would counter that message by slashing programs working Americans rely on, they said. GOP lawmakers in the room included Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Young Kim (Calif.), David Valadao (Calif.), Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.), Tom Barrett (Mich.) and Don Bacon (Neb.).
And the group asserted that Republicans need to protect more than just Obamacare. A large swath of the GOP is discussing significant spending cuts, including to social safety net programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Centrists warned their colleagues not to pursue deep cuts to those programs, which benefit low-income Americans, according to the four Republicans.
Thursday’s meeting was part of the series of listening sessions GOP leaders are holding with members as they try to outline their massive party-line reconciliation package. They’re also trying to figure out how to stave off a government shutdown that would kick in on March 15 and lift the debt ceiling.
The conversation was a broad “temperature check” among the more centrist members on what sort of spending cuts they could support, according to another Republican familiar with the meeting. Some members indicated they were more open to securing funding cuts by rescinding unspent Covid-19 funds and clawing back money from Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, including credits for electric vehicles.
Emmer’s team ticked through slides of possible cuts to “feel out problems,” according to another person familiar with the meeting. As they went down the list, it became clear there were still many points of disagreement.
“Almost everything is: ‘That’s a problem. That’s a problem,’” said one of the people who was in the room.
