Trump to House Republicans: Pass your health care bill Friday or we'll just keep ObamaCare

Keep in mind here, we're only talking about the bill passing the House. Early in the process that was considered a gimme, with the real challenge lying ahead in the Senate where Republicans hold only 52 seats and some of them are not exactly far right of center. But concern about the Senate has always been the problem with the House bill. The AHCA as currently structured is designed to pass the Senate, as opposed to a far more market-oriented bill that could have easily passed the House but faced the prospect of defeat once Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Cory Gardner got their hands on it in the upper chamber. I don't know why Ryan had it in his head that it had to go this way. The normal path for legislation is that the House passes a bill, the Senate passes a different version and then things are ironed out in conference committee. Why couldn't the House have simply passed a conservative bill, let the Senate take up its own bill and then let the dealmaking commence? That, it seems to me, is where Trump's skills as a negotiator would have been most useful. Instead, the House decided to water down its own bill in order to get it through the Senate - and as a result it may not even make it through the House. Of course, a lot can happen in a day. And if Trump is to be believed, it had better happen in a day. Now, let's parse what Trump is really saying here. To take it at face value, you'd have to conclude he is only willing to sign a repeal/replace bill if it passes the House today. As opposed to what? Vetoing it if it passes next week? This is a high-stakes threat, to be sure, and I believe him insofar as he's talking about moving his legislative emphasis to other priorities.

But let's say for the sake of argument that the House basically ignores the ultimatum because it thinks it will take a week, or two, to come up with a bill that can pass and that actually works. The House passes its bill in mid-April. The Senate passes something too, the two go to conference committee and we've ultimately got a repeal/replace bill that reaches Trump's desk. At that point, does Trump veto the bill because it didn't pass the House on March 24 like he demanded? Sorry, you're too late, we're keeping ObamaCare. I wouldn't think so. But it's better for Congress to get anything passed and signed when the president is engaged in the effort, and Trump has had it with trying to get this thing to work. If he was building a hotel and his contractors and financiers were messing around and getting nowhere, I can see Trump saying "screw it" and walking away. He's trying to do the equivalent here, or at least make it look like he is. Don't take your eye off the news today.