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Pence woos Senate conservatives in Obamacare repeal push

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 01: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence walks into the Rose Garden before President Donald Trump announces his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement at the White House June 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump pledged on the campaign trail to withdraw from the accord, which former President Barack Obama and the leaders of 194 other countries signed in 2015. The agreement is intended to encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit global warming to a manageable level. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Vice President Mike Pence will host a group of conservative GOP senators including Utah's Mike Lee for dinner on Tuesday to discuss their concerns with the legislation. | Getty

By Eliana Johnson and Seung Min Kim

With the fate of Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill hanging in the balance, Vice President Mike Pence is swooping in to see if he can work out a deal to secure the 50 votes needed to pass it through the Senate.

Pence will host a group of conservative GOP senators including Utah’s Mike Lee for dinner on Tuesday to discuss their concerns with the legislation. Invitations have also been extended to Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. Sen. Ben Sasse was also invited to the dinner, although it is unclear whether he will attend; a Sasse aide said the Nebraska Republican is “engaging frequently with the vice president and his team.”

After House Speaker Paul Ryan was forced to pull an initial version of the repeal bill from the House floor, the vice president played an integral role in restarting negotiations in the lower chamber. Those talks led to a revised plan that quelled the concerns of the House’s most conservative members, and the legislation ultimately passed the House in early May.

Senate GOP leaders are now focusing much of their attention on the conference’s most conservative members, several of whom have expressed deep reservations about the bill unveiled by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week.

Both McConnell and the White House hope that Pence can play a role similar to the one he played with House members, shuttling between the White House and Capitol Hill as necessary to bring the legislation over the finish line this week — and to bring the White House a much-needed policy win.