U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Monday during a swing through Moore County that he hopes the House will send over the “first phase” of its health care reform legislation when Congress returns from its recesses next week.
 
“It is absolutely essential,” he said during a noon address to the Moore County Republican Men’s Club at the Pinehurst Member’s Club. “It has to be done.”
 
After the monthly luncheon, Tillis visited Southern Pines Brewing Co., which is owned by three retired Army Special Forces soldiers, and R. Riveter in downtown Southern Pines, which is owned by two spouses of active duty soldiers. He headed to Fort Bragg after leaving Moore County.
 
Republicans have been clamoring for seven years to repeal and replace one of former President Obama’s signature domestic achievements — the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. They now have that opportunity with GOP control of Congress and the White House, but Republicans in the House last month failed to muster enough support for a vote on the replacement bill.
 
Tillis, who was elected to U.S. Senate in 2014 after previously serving as N.C. House speaker, said health care reform will not be easy, as evidenced by the Republican leadership in the House pulling its bill — the American Health Care Act — several weeks ago because it lacked enough support to pass. Part of the blame was laid on the conservative Freedom Caucus, which felt it did not go far enough in wiping away the old health care law.
 
Tillis said everyone will have to give a little to get something passed.
 
“I believe what the Freedom Caucus is thinking will make what comes out of the House better as long as they are willing to do it in the spirit of collegiality,” he said in response to a question from the audience. “People will have to be willing to accept something far less that any of us would want and just move on. But I am optimistic they get something to us.”
 
As difficult as it has been navigating legislation through the various ideological divides in the House — even among members of the same political party — Tillis said the Senate has its “own little challenges,” which includes a “razor-thin” 52-48 GOP majority. He said the Republican caucus is diverse — from the more moderate Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, to the more conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas.
 
He said Republicans will have to unite to pass something, adding that it may not be popular at first.
 
“The fact of the matter is if this bill makes everybody happy, then we haven’t put the right bill before the president,” he said. “What we are going to do, unwinding Obamacare, is going to be unpopular at some point in time. The interim steps are going to be unpopular. There are going to be challenges. They have to be done.”
 
Tillis said he will have no qualms about voting in favor of health care reform when it reaches the Senate. He said that during this nearly two-and-a-half years in the Senate, he has yet to take what he called a “tough” vote.
 
“This will not be a tough vote either,” he said of health care reform. “Whatever the House sends, we’ve got to get to the right place. We need 51 votes to send it to the president. That is our job, and if I take criticism, that is my job too. Every single (Republican) member of Congress needs to do that so we can move forward with Trump’s agenda.”
 
Tillis said voters expect action on the part of Congress to “get things done and move the country in the right direction.” He said their jobs and that of President Trump may depend on it.
 
“We make it easier to win elections,” he said passing Republican initiatives. “We make it less likely we will be saying, Hello, President (Elizabeth) Warren’ in 2021. That is about as scary as the flying monkeys in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ We make it easier to have Donald Trump as a two-term president and for us to have a majority in the House and Senate for quite some time.”
 
Tillis said some people might not have been happy with a guest editorial he wrote in The Charlotte Observer after last November’s election in which he asserted that “we didn’t get a conservative mandate.” He jokingly said he was disappointed that more people in the room at the luncheon were not upset by his view.
 
“It is about third-grade math,” he said. “We lost seats in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, lost the (N.C.) governor’s mansion, lost the state Supreme Court. If it was an overwhelming mandate, why did that happen?”
 
Tillis said what “the American people gave us an opportunity to do — because they generally support us — is to produce results.” He said that requires thinking differently.
 
“We can’t swing for the fences,” he said, using a baseball analogy for hitting a home run. “We’ve got to get on base.”
 
Tillis said Republicans — including those in the House Freedom Caucus — need to eventually get on board with things such as health care reform.
 
“I have no problem with the Freedom Caucus pushing us as hard as they do,” he said. “But at some point, you’ve got to vote and you’ve got to push for a result. And if you are standing in the way of something that is not quite perfect, that is something that will get us out of office pretty quickly, because people will remember over time, particularly in two-year intervals, what you did not do. We’ve got to be practical.”
 
He took strong exception to criticism from those on the far right who do not want any compromises. They often refer to a politician they do not feel holds to conservative principals as a RINO — Republican in name only.
 
“When I hear Rush Limbaugh say I’m a RINO, I say ‘I am,’” Tillis said. “I am a Republican in Need of Outcomes. I am sick and tired of people preaching perfect and never delivering. … I actually believe principles matter. I don’t think principles are situational. A lot of principles up in Washington are situational.”
 
Tillis also cited his support for new Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who endured a difficult confirmation. Republicans invoked what is called the “nuclear option” to prevent a Democratic filibuster by eliminating the 60-vote threshold required for confirmation. Tillis serves on the Judiciary Committee, which holds confirmation hearings.
 
He defended the Republican leadership’s decision to deny consideration of Obama’s nominee, Garland Merrick, a year ago — which set the stage for the fierce battle over Gorsuch — to replace the late Antonin Scalia.
 
“All of us agreed we did not want to move forward with a nomination in the middle of an election,” he said of the Republicans on the committee “And I still hold firm to that. That principle that I stood, I will stand on regardless of the circumstances in the White House. Once we get to the election season, if a vacancy occurs, then it is time to let the people speak and then we act on that recommendation.”
 
Tillis said he has been asked what he would do in four years, if there is a vacancy and Trump nominates someone.
 
“I said I will take the same position I took today,” he said. “That is something people expect of us.”
 
Tillis said Democrats had already used the “nuclear option” in 2013 to require only a simple majority to confirm all other judicial and cabinet appointments.
 
Though he did not specifically mention it in his address, Tillis recently jointed a bipartisan group of 61 Senators calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to preserve the legislative filibuster and 60-vote threshold for legislation.
 
“We are mindful of the unique role the Senate plays in the legislative process, and we are steadfastly committed to ensuring that this great American institution continues to serve as the world’s greatest deliberative body,” the Senators wrote in a joint letter.
 
The Pilot later asked a Tillis spokesperson why Tillis still voted in favor of eliminating the 60-vote threshold for the Gorsuch confirmation.
 
“Justice Gorsuch is a mainstream, independent-minded and incredibly qualified judge, which is why he earned bipartisan support and the American Bar Association’s highest rating,” Tillis said in an email statement. “The Democratic leadership’s decision to obstruct his confirmation was both unfortunate and unprecedented. The Senate took a vote to end the partisan obstructionism so we could advance his confirmation.
 
“Moving forward, I hope that Democratic Senate leaders will demonstrate a willingness to work in a bipartisan manner so Congress can tackle a number of important issues, including infrastructure improvements, criminal justice reform, and immigration reform.”
 
Finally, on the thorny question of town hall meetings, Tillis said he is planning to hold one — he said the date and location are still being worked out. A number of town hall meetings held by Republican lawmakers have been disrupted, some by an organized movement called “Resist Trump.”
 
He said this is not a new thing for Republicans, noting what happened with the Tea Party movement within its own ranks. But he said he will not tolerate yelling and name-calling.
 
“I have no problem with someone saying they’re opposed to the way I feel or the way I vote,” he said. “You want to have a good discussion, debate. Say whatever you want, but if it descends into the sort of chaos they really want — that seems to be the formula of some of these groups, particularly Resist Trump, the organized group — then it will be the last one I do. They can choose.”
 
Tillis said Republicans cannot allow that to prevent them from moving forward with Trump’s agenda. He compared that with what happened in North Carolina with the Moral Monday movement after Republicans won the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the General Assembly in 2013 “in trying to prevent us from doing what we said we were going to do.”
 
“We didn’t allow that to happen,” he said. “You just have to block it out. It is the price of doing business. If someone wants to come to you with a legislative policy difference, line up at the door. We’ll take all comers. If you get up there and shout, we’ve got better things to do.We’ve got better things to do for this country than be distracted by this sort of stuff.”

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