�Թϲ�����

The rescue effort that pulled the Republicans back from the brink of failure on health care began quietly, with two House members who are not exactly household names trying to find common ground on a little-noticed issue. They were Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), a leader of the moderate House Republican bloc that calls itself the Tuesday Group, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative and hard-line House Freedom Caucus. The question at hand was giving states more flexibility by allowing them to come up with their own ways of achieving cost savings and providing coverage. (Tumulty and Costa, 5/4)

The House on Thursday squeaked out a one-vote win with the support of all but 20 Republicans, 15 of whom are members of the moderate Tuesday Group. No Democrats supported the bill. The path to 217, the ultimate tally of Republicans who supported the legislation, was fraught. House Republicans missed every deadline they set out for themselves to deliver the repeal of the health care law, a campaign promise they repeated for more than seven years. Leaders had to pull their first version of the legislation from floor consideration in March, when it became clear it lacked the support to pass. Since then, various groups of Republicans have been huddling in meetings like the one convened Monday, to work out policy changes that have bought anywhere from one to 30 votes. (Mershon and McPherson, 5/4)

As they raced toward Thursday’s vote on the American Health Care Act, House Republicans found themselves fending off ghosts. Seven years of attacks on the Affordable Care Act, seven years of insisting that the law had been jammed through without scrutiny, kept coming back to haunt them. First, they struggled to answer questions about the need to vote before the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had estimated the costs of an amended AHCA. ... Next, they brushed off questions about whether they’d read the bill. (Weigel, 5/4)

For seven years, Republicans campaigned on a single message: Obamacare was rammed through Congress by power-hungry Democrats who rushed a hastily written bill riddled with backroom kickbacks. But now, after vowing for years that the repeal process would be different, with regular order and plenty of public scrutiny, Republicans are doing the exact same thing — or worse — that they blasted Democrats for repeatedly. Here’s how. (Caygle, 5/4)

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), a top ally of President Trump, admitted Thursday he did not read the entire text of the GOP's healthcare bill that passed earlier in the day, but said his staff did. "I will fully admit, Wolf, I did not, but I can also assure you my staff did," Collins told host Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "The Situation Room."  (Beavers, 5/4)

To get this version passed, Republican leaders positioned the bill far to the right of the political spectrum to win the support of most of the conservative House Freedom Caucus members and keep some moderates on board. And, that strategy worked. (Soffen, Cameron and Uhrmacher, 5/4)

A total of 19 hard-line conservatives associated with the Freedom Caucus, who expressed opposition or reservations to the original bill, voted “yes” on Thursday. These representatives, from the districts shown [on map], gave the revised bill enough votes to pass — the bill needed 216 “yes” votes and received 217. (Bloch, Park and Pearce, 5/4)

Twenty mostly centrist House Republicans who represent swing districts voted against the GOP’s legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on Thursday. Two more defections would have doomed the bill, signaling how tough a vote it was for many lawmakers. Only one member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, freshman Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), voted against the measure because it didn’t go far enough to fully repeal the healthcare law. Two other libertarian-minded conservatives, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Walter Jones (N.C.), also opposed it. (Marcos, 5/4)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 217-213 Thursday afternoon to pass the latest Republican bill to repeal Obamacare. All three of Minnesota’s Republican representatives voted for the bill, while all five of Minnesota’s Democratic representatives voted against the bill. (5/4)

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve the American Health Care Act, touted by the GOP and President Donald Trump as a better alternative to President Obama's signature health care effort, the Affordable Care Act. ... KCUR reached out to House members from both Kansas and Missouri to get an idea of how the vote might shake out. (Rodriguez, Palmer and Spencer, 5/4)

The House Republicans’ victory on Thursday in passing a bill to repeal and replace “Obamacare” couldn’t have happened without the unanimous support from the 14 members of California’s GOP congressional delegation. Those votes drew praise from some Californians convinced Obamacare has been a burden and must go.  But healthcare advocates around the state called the votes a stunning reversal — some said “betrayal” — by several representatives who previously had cited serious concerns about the GOP legislation, which was opposed by all 39 House Democrats. (Seipel, 5/4)

The 14 Republicans in California’s House delegation helped give their party its biggest victory to date Thursday in its seven-year campaign against the Affordable Care Act, voting to gut the law in defiance of Democratic threats to have them “tattooed” with the decision come next year’s elections. The state’s GOP contingent voted unanimously for a Republican bill to replace the health-insurance law commonly known as Obamacare, including seven members who represent districts that President Trump lost in November. (Lochhead, 5/4)

Arizona conservatives were largely on board Thursday with the House's passage of the American Health Care Act, a move that revived Republican hopes of repealing central parts of President Barack Obama's signature health-care law. Freshman Rep. Andy Biggs, who represents a conservative congressional district east of Phoenix, was the only Arizona Republican to vote against the legislation, joining Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego, Raul Grijalva, Tom O'Halleran and Kyrsten Sinema in opposing the bill. (Nowicki, 5/4)

Three of Iowa’s four members of Congress on Thursday voted in favor of a bill repealing major elements of the health care law known as Obamacare. All three of Iowa’s Republican members – U.S. Reps. Rod Blum, Steve King and David Young – voted for the GOP-led legislation, the American Health Care Act. Iowa’s lone Democrat in the House, U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, voted against the bill. (Noble, 5/4)