The White House began demanding votes, driving a frenzied debate on amendments and negotiating late into the night with conservative holdouts — all with Ryan mostly on the sidelines. That has GOP lawmakers wondering who’ll lead their next attempt at fulfilling a longstanding Republican campaign promise.
“I asked Speaker Ryan directly — who’s in charge of the House? Is it President Trump or is it Speaker Ryan?” Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, a Freedom Caucus member, told a local radio station Tuesday…
“It’s out of the ordinary at the beginning of an administration” for the vice president, not the speaker, to be leading discussions with members, said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University, noting that Vice President Mike Pence was negotiating personally with holdouts…
“The speaker was burned and he just doesn’t want to do it again right now,” Thurber said of spending more political capital on health care. “I think Trump told Pence what he wanted, and I think Pence is doing it.”
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