AP Photo/Susan Walsh
The House Freedom Caucus voted Monday night to oppose anything less aggressive than the 2015 Obamacare repeal bill, the Huffington Post reports, leaving Republicans fractured over how to deal with the health care law.
But leadership continues to move ahead with its plan to put pieces of an Obamacare replacement plan in the repeal bill. Earlier Monday, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows told Axios he believes a replacement needs to be passed separately from a repeal bill.
The problem: The reason GOP leadership is so aggressively trying to put part of the replacement plan in the repeal bill is in response to the concerns of moderate Republicans, who may not vote for a straight repeal. The 2015 repeal bill also gets rid of the Medicaid expansion, which Republicans from expansion states are unlikely to support.
Why this matters: There are now two factions among the Republican party — the moderates and the conservatives — in direct opposition to one another in terms of what to do about Obamacare. Either one side gives in, or the votes likely aren't there for a repeal.