Rep. Ted Poe said Monday the reluctance of the House Freedom Caucus to agree to a compromise on a health care bill convinced him it was time to sever ties with the group, arguing they are getting in the way of progress.
The Texas Republican said members of the very conservative group refused to support the health care overhaul that President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan failed to push through the House because it was not the “perfect pure bill that they wanted.”
“If they had that, then they would have lost other members of the Republican Party,” Mr. Poe said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “So compromise is something you’ve got to do when you are in power.”
Mr. Poe, who announced last year that he had been diagnosed with leukemia, said the Freedom Caucus was formed in 2015 in opposition to the liberal agenda, but now the GOP is in power of the White House and both chambers of Congress, its members are acting as an opposition force against the majority of their Republican colleagues.
“The whole purpose of the Freedom Caucus was to be brought to the table on all legislation, and we were all brought to the table,” Mr. Poe said of the health care bill negotiations. “I mean when you spend an hour and a half with the president of the United States, the vice president, concessions were made on the bill that the Freedom Caucus wanted, but it could not ever get to the point where the Freedom Caucus would vote ’yes.’ “
“So we can’t keep saying ’no,’ ” he said. “Rather than say ’no,’ we have to have progress.”
SEE ALSO: Ted Poe quits House Freedom Caucus over health care debacle
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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