Trump again blames House Freedom Caucus for failure of health care bill

President Donald Trump again blamed the House Freedom Caucus, a group of about three dozen right-wing representatives, for the failure of his health care bill to replace Obamacare.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pulled the bill Friday afternoon before a vote that would have failed. Despite efforts by Trump to bring along House Freedom Caucus members, many of them said they would vote against the American Health Care Act.

Trump tweeted Monday night that the “Freedom Caucus was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Trump has tweeted about the group three times since Friday. He had never tweeted about the group before.

The House Freedom Caucus has no official list of members, but the group is chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. The group counted 36 members in 2015, according to Pew Research Center.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, withdrew from the group Sunday and said the group must find solutions.

“Saying no is easy, leading is hard, but that is what we were elected to do,” Poe said in a statement.

Several Republican moderates were also opposed to the health care bill, particularly after Trump and Ryan made changes to appease the Freedom Caucus.

Mo Brooks, R-Ala., a member of the Freedom Caucus, filed a bill to repeal Obamacare on Friday. The bill would erase the Affordable Care Act effective Dec. 31, 2017.

So far, Trump has spared them in assigning blame for the health care bill, preferring to take on the Freedom Caucus and Democrats, none of whom publicly supported the bill leaving Republicans to attempt to pass the legislation without any bipartisan support.

This story was originally published March 27, 2017 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Trump again blames House Freedom Caucus for failure of health care bill."