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WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - Top White House officials met moderate and conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday in an effort to revive a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Key members of the administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, invited a group of moderate Republicans known as the "Tuesday Group" to the White House. Pence then went to Capitol Hill to meet the Freedom Caucus, a group of House conservatives who last month derailed a healthcare bill backed by President Donald Trump.

The White House would like to see a revised bill come up for a vote as early as week's end, before the House breaks for a spring recess, and the text of the new proposal could be ready some time on Tuesday, lawmakers said.

"It was clear the president would be very happy come Friday to have this passed," said U.S. Representative Chris Collins, a member of the Tuesday Group and a Trump ally.

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UNITED STATES - MARCH 9: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., conducts a presentation in the House studio of the American Health Care Act, the GOP's plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, March 9, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 07: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price compares a copy of the Affordable Care Act (R) and a copy of the new House Republican health care bill (L) during the White House daily press briefing March 7, 2017 at the White House in Washington, DC. Secretary Price answered questions on the new healthcare bill during the briefing. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks to the media about the American Health Care Act at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 13: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price (L) and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney talk to reporters following the release of the Congressional Budget Office report on the proposed American Health Care Act outside the White House West Wing March 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Price said 'We disagree strenuously' with the findings of the CBO report about the Republican's attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks at a news conference about Congressional efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 10: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (4th L) delivers remarks at the beginning of a meeting with representatives of conservative political organizations to discuss the American Health Care Act in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building March 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price led the meeting that included representatives from the Cato Institute, Tea Party Patriots, the American Conservative Union, Freedom Works, the American Legislative Exchange Council and other conservative groups. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks to the media about the American Health Care Act at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 10: (L-R) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump greet House of Representatives committee leaders (L-R) House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black (R-TN), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-WA) and Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) before a meeting to discuss the American Health Care Act in the Roosevelt Room at the White House March 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. The proposed legislation is the Republican attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks to the media about the American Health Care Act at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price speaks about efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare and the advancement of the American Health Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

A copy of Obamacare repeal and replace recommendations (L) produced by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives sit next to a copy of the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

(L-R) U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and U.S. Representative Greg Walden hold a news conference on the American Health Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

UNITED STATES - MARCH 14: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., attend a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center to voice opposition to House Republican's health care plan, the American Health Care Act, March 14, 2017. The event featured testimony from patients and doctors who benefit from the Affordable Care Act. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

UNITED STATES - MARCH 14: From left, Dr. Alice T. Chen, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Maggie Hassn, D-N.H., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., attend a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center to voice opposition to House Republican's health care plan, the American Health Care Act, March 14, 2017. The event featured testimony from patients and doctors who benefit from the Affordable Care Act. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks at a news conference about Congressional efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: House Energy and Commerce Committee staff members work during a markup hearing on the proposed American Health Care Act, the Republican attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill March 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Republicans were rushing the legislation through the powerful Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means committees, aiming for a full House vote next week. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 07: House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) (R) and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) (L) arrive for a news conference on the newly announced American Health Care Act at the U.S. Capitol March 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Republicans yesterday released details on their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, with a more conservative agenda that includes individual tax credits and grants for states replacing federal insurance subsidies. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) looks on as US Secretary of Health and Human Service Tom Price (R) points to a print-out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a copy of the new plan introduced to repeal and replace the ACA during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on March 7, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 07: House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) (L) and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) (R) answer questions during a news conference on the newly announced American Health Care Act at the U.S. Capitol March 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Republicans yesterday released details on their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, with a more conservative agenda that includes individual tax credits and grants for states replacing federal insurance subsidies. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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"This could move fairly quickly," he said.

Just 10 days ago, House Speaker Paul Ryan was forced to cancel a vote on a bill to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, when it was clear he could not deliver the votes needed for it to pass.

The defeat was a big political setback for Trump and fellow Republicans in Congress who were elected on pledges to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.

Freedom Caucus members said the Republican bill was too similar to Obamacare, while moderate Republicans balked at some of the changes conservatives sought.

Trump attacked Freedom Caucus members on Twitter late last week for their opposition to the bill and threatened to work to defeat them in the 2018 congressional elections.

SEE ALSO: Cambridge set to vote on impeachment investigation against President Trump

At the weekend, he struck a more conciliatory tone, tweeting early on Sunday: "Talks on Repealing and Replacing Obamacare are, and have been, going on, and will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck."

After golfing with the president on Sunday, Republican Senator Rand Paul, a sharp critic of the Republicans' previous healthcare bill, also expressed renewed hope the healthcare bill could be revised in a way that picked up support from the conservative and moderate factions of the Republican Party.

Paul told reporters he was "very optimistic that we are getting closer and closer to an agreement repealing Obamacare."

KEY PROVISIONS

Pence and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus laid out the administration's revised healthcare plan during a 40-minute meeting with Freedom Caucus members, said Congressman Mark Meadows, the leader of the conservative group.

Meadows said he was "intrigued" by the new plan, which would allow states to opt out of some of Obamacare's mandates, possibly by obtaining waivers.

"We're encouraged ... but would certainly need a whole lot more information before we can take any action either in support or in opposition," Meadows told reporters. He expected to see a detailed draft of the proposal within 24 hours, he said.

RELATED: Donald Trump's first 100 daysin office, a photo for each day

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US President Donald Trump takes the oath of office with his wife Melania and son Barron at his side, during his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he leaves the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters after delivering remarks during a visit in Langley, Virginia U.S., January 21, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump shows a letter from former President Barack Obama at a swearing-in ceremony for senior staff at the White House in Washington, DC January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the executive order on withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while signing an executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaks as U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence, center, and John Kelly, secretary of U.S. Homeland Security, stand during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington, D.C. U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. Trump acted on two of the most fundamental -- and controversial -- elements of his presidential campaign, building a wall on the border with Mexico and greatly tightening restrictions on who can enter the U.S. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Pool via Bloomberg

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks briefly to reporters as he arrives aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S. January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 27: British Prime Minister Theresa May shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump in The Oval Office at The White House on January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. British Prime Minister Theresa May is on a two-day visit to the United States and will be the first world leader to meet with President Donald Trump. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R), speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. January 28, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Activists march to the US Capitol to protest President Donald Trump's executive actions on immigration in Washington January 29, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order while surrounded by small business leaders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. Trump said he will dramatically reduce regulations overall with this executive action as it requires that for every new federal regulation implemented, two must be rescinded. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 31: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Robert J. Hugin, Executive Chairman, Celgene Corporation, as he meets with representatives from PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. According to its website, PhRMA 'represents the country's leading biopharmaceutical researchers and biotechnology companies.' Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co. looks on from left. (Photo by Ron Sachs - Pool/Getty Images)

Rex Tillerson, U.S. Secretary of State for President Donald Trump, left, speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump listen after the swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. Tillerson won Senate confirmation as secretary of state after lawmakers split mostly along party lines on President Trump's choice of an oilman with no government experience but a career negotiating billions of dollars of energy deals worldwide. Photographer: Michael Reynolds/Pool via Bloomberg

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 2: President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with Harley Davidson executives and Union Representatives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, Feb. 02, 2017. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at West Palm Beach International airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 3, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

US President Donald Trump watches the Super Bowl with First Lady Melania Trump (R) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (L) at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump salutes as he arrives at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump receives a figurine of a sheriff during a meeting with county sheriffs at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., left, listens during a meeting at The White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. Trump defended his power to put limits on who can enter the U.S., saying it shouldn't be challenged in the courts even as a three-judge panel weighs whether to reinstate restrictions on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations. Photographer: Chris Kleponis/Pool via Bloomberg

U.S. President Donald Trump watches as Vice President Mike Pence (R) swears in Jeff Sessions (L) as U.S. Attorney General while his wife Mary Sessions holds the Bible in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is greeted by U.S. President Donald Trump (L) ahead of their joint news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pose for photos with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akke Abe at Trump's Mar-a-Lagoresort in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 11, 2017 prior to dinner. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., February 12, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a joint news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump listens to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speak at meeting with teachers and parents at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 14, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump (2ndR) and first lady Melania Trump greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara (L) as they arrive at the South Portico of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 15, 2017.REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump announces Alexander Acosta as his new nominee to lead the Department of Labor during a news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump walks with his grandchildren Arabella and Joseph to Marine One upon his departure from the White House in Washington, U.S., February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump acknowledge supporters during a "Make America Great Again" rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida, U.S. February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump turns into Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida U.S., February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump announces his new National Security Adviser Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (L) and that acting adviser Keith Kellogg (R) will become the chief of staff of the National Security Council at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida U.S. February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 21: (AFP OUT) President Donald Trump tours the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture on February 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch - Pool/Getty Images)

Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney (L) listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak during a "strategic initiatives" lunch at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 22, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a meeting with experts on addressing human trafficking at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Maryland, U.S. February 24, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after a dinner at Trump International Hotel in Washington, U.S., February 25, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 26: AFP OUT President Donald Trump delivers brief remarks before a toast during the annual Governors' Dinner in the East Room of the White House February 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Part of the National Governors Association annual meeting in the nation's capital, the black tie dinner and ball is the first formal event the Trumps will host at the White House since moving in last month. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: U.S. President Donald Trump poses with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Oval Office of the White House, on February 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images)

US Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) applaud as US President Donald J. Trump (C) arrives to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress from the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2017. REUTERS/Jim Lo Scalzo

U.S. President Donald Trump looks up while hosting a House and Senate leadership lunch at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump tours the pre-commissioned U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford at Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding facilities in Newport News, Virginia, U.S. March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (from L), U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and White House advisor Jared Kushner, thanks fourth-grade students for the "Happy Birthday Florida" card they gave him as he visits their classroom at Saint Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Florida, U.S. March 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 04: US President Donald Trump waves from his vehicle as he stops while being driven past supporters near his Mar-a-Lago resort home on March 4, 2017 in West Palm Beach, Florida. President Trump spent part of the weekend at the house. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 05: President Donald J. Trump walks across the South Lawn towards the White House on March 5, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump is returning from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. Florida. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser-Pool/Getty Images)

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stand together after speaking on issues related to visas and travel after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban order in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Beside a painting of Hillary Clinton, U.S. President Donald Trump makes a surprise appearance in front of a tour group at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 8: First Lady Melania Trump arrives at a luncheon she was hosting to mark International Women's Day in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC on Wednesday, March. 08, 2017. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump greets Dorothy Savarese, CEO of Cape Cod Five Mutual Company, during a National Economic Council listening session with the CEOs of small and community banks, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on March 9, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump talks with Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) during a healthcare meeting with key House Committee Chairmen at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 10, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

POTOMAC FALLS, VA - MARCH 11: President Donald Trump has a working lunch with staff and cabinet members and significant others at his golf course, Trump National on March 11, 2017 in Potomac Falls, Virginia. (Photo by Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty Images)

A boy looks at a man dressed in the likeness of U.S. President Donald Trump as ultra Orthodox Jewish men dressed in Purim costumes take part in the reading from the Book of Esther ceremony performed on the Jewish holiday of Purim, a celebration of the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther, in Jerusalem March 12, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

U.S. President Donald Trump is applauded by his cabinet as he signs an executive order entitled "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch" in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman enter the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

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Trump aides, Mike Pence talk with Freedom Caucus, GOP over healthcare bill - AOL

Vice President Mike Pence spoke Saturday in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

A NEBRASKA SENATOR once said of a Supreme Court nominee, So what if hes mediocre? [The mediocre] are entitled to a little representation. But in Mike Pence mediocrity is overrepresented. Not even Donald Trump commends this intellectually blinkered, right-wing provincial as Americas Savior.

He began as a talk show host in 1994 in small-town Indiana, fulminating about the global warming myth, the perfidy of Washington, and the verities of an evangelical Christianity menaced by cosmopolites. Piety swiftly merged with pragmatism: ambitious for office, Pence learned what worked an antichoice, antigay agenda served up with reckless rhetoric couched in a pose of rectitude. He informed his audience that Clarence Thomas was being lynched, and that despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesnt kill. A quarter-century later, Pence remains as small as his beginnings.

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The flexibility of his conscience surfaced in his first race for Congress. He used campaign funds to pay for his mortgage, car, credit card, golf, and groceries. To smear his opponent, he sent a mailer depicting lines of cocaine; ran an ad portraying an Arab sheik; and spread a story that the Democrat was selling his farm to a nuclear waste facility. Only after losing, did Pence deploy an ostentatious show of guilt.

Once in Congress, he joined the Tea Party and displayed a rigid intolerance for anything outside the crabbed confines of evangelical conservatism. He attacked sex education and reproductive choice with the zeal of Savonarola, decrying stem cell research, the use of condoms to prevent STDs, and organizations whose services included abortion. To further this agenda, he proposed changing the definition of rape to forcible rape and shutting down the government as a tactic to defund Planned Parenthood.

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His apotheosis came as Indianas governor: a statute barring women from aborting fetuses with grave chromosomal damage; exposing doctors who assisted them to prosecution for wrongful death; and requiring that aborted fetuses be buried. A federal court swiftly struck it down.

Turns out Mike Pence also used private e-mail for state business.

His war against LGBT rights is unyielding. He called banning gay marriage Gods idea. He advocated diverting money for AIDS research to ex- gay therapy programs. He fought legislation to protect gays from job discrimination and hate crimes, and opposed gays serving in the military.

As governor, Pence spearheaded a religious freedom law allowing business owners to deny service to LGBT citizens. Struggling to defend this, he gave an incoherent interview to George Stephanopoulos which exposed his excruciating inability to transcend robotic talking points. More than narrow, he looked dense.

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Equally mindless was his opposition to a needle-exchange program, provoking an outbreak of HIV-AIDS in an Indiana county. But then Pence exudes myopia. His fealty to the NRA is craven and comprehensive. He questions climate change and the theory of evolution. He tried to bar Syrian refugees from entering Indiana. In the cul-de-sac of his mind, he plays to the only audience he knows people who think like him.

Increasingly, Indianans did not. By 2016, his reelection campaign was flagging, his normally polite constituents booing him in public. Locals were stunned when, bereft of attractive options, Donald Trump reluctantly offered him a shot at ultimate power. For Pence, this was a gift from God; for others, a revelation of character.

Shamelessly, he combined obsequious testimonials to Trump as leader, family man, and Christian with transparent calculation. Particularly revealing was Pences oscillation between toady and schemer in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape.

At first, he crowed that Trump was still standing stronger than ever. But as revulsion for Trumps serial groping mushroomed, Pence rediscovered his moral compass, intoning prior to one of the presidential debates, We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunities he has to show what is in his heart [in tomorrow nights debate]. Whereupon he vanished.

His calculus was transparent: Pence would await Trumps performance before defending him, poised to resign from the ticket or replace Trump at its head. But Trump survived. Proud to stand with you, Pence tweeted, then attacked Bill Clinton for moral turpitude.

Thats Pence. His public persona reeks of smarmy sanctimony every untruth, evasion, and vacuous bromide delivered in a portentous pipe organ voice accompanied by squints, nods, and shakes of the head which, Pence clearly imagines, convey a pious gravity. The effect is that of an unctuous church elder selling pyramid schemes to credulous parishioners, never doubting he is doing Gods work. Every self-serving self-deception reveals the depths of his shallowness, the breadth of his hypocrisy.

His salvation is not ours.

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Mike Pence and the rise of mediocrity - The Boston Globe

Vice President Mike Pence may now live thousands of miles away from Indiana, but his home state is still reckoning with his legacy.

On Friday, a federal judge blocked an Indiana law requiring women seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound at least 18 hours before they undergo the procedure. The state failed to present any convincing evidence that the law did what the state said it did: preserve fetal life and womens mental health by convincing them not to have an abortion, found U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.

Pence signed the law, which had been in effect since July 2016, when he was still Indianas governor. It mandated that women in the state visit their abortion provider at least twice once for an ultrasound and in-person counseling with state-mandated information about abortions, and once to obtain the abortion itself.

In a 53-page ruling, Pratt found that the state failed to prove that making women view their ultrasounds let alone making them view it 18 hours before undergoing an abortion made them rethink their decision to get an abortion.

Pratt said that Indiana also failed to justify mandating that women make two separate trips to abortion clinics. For low-income women already struggling with the prospect of paying for an expensive abortion, Pratt wrote, forcing them to also pay for travel, lost wages, and possible child care was just too much.

The Indiana law kept at least nine women from getting an abortion because they couldnt afford to make two trips to the clinic, including a woman who couldnt leave her special needs children that often, according to the lawsuit.

The burdens it creates on women seeking to terminate their pregnancies which are significant even if not overwhelming dramatically outweigh the benefits, making the burdens undue and the new ultrasound law likely unconstitutional, Pratt wrote.

Indiana is far from the only state to have such a requirement. Thirteen other states also require women go to in-person abortion counseling hours or days before actually getting an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Some 26 states also have regulations controlling ultrasounds and abortions, and three require that an ultrasound be performed at least 24 hours before an abortion.

But this ruling may signal a change in how courts approach those laws. Thanks to Whole Womans Health, a landmark Supreme Court decision that struck down Texas abortion regulations, states now have to prove that their restrictions actually do what they say they do.

There may be more of these laws that get struck down, explained Elizabeth Nash, a Guttmacher Institute senior state issues manager. Because oftentimes all we get from the state is an assertion that the law protects womens health and the law protects fetal health. And there isnt much in the way of evidence that these laws are necessary or even achieve their stated goals.

Still, few states have faced legal battles over ultrasound and abortion counseling provisions, and there are only so many attorneys who can fight the myriad abortion regulations across the country. It might be that [lawyers] may see these as real burdens and barriers, but they might not have the bandwidth to challenge all of them, Nash said.

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Mike Pence just had one of his abortion laws blocked in Indiana - VICE News

The Vice-President cant get a burger with Lisa Murkowski without arousing suspicion or, possibly, himself? After the Washington Post pointed out, last week, that Mike Pence once told a reporter that he never dines alone with a woman who is not his wifea variation of the so-called Billy Graham rulepeople had a lot of questions. Are after-sunset encounters allowed if they dont include food? Do canaps count? Pretzels on an airplane? It seemed like a good time to get on the phone, for some perspective, with Billy Grahams forty-two-year-old evangelist grandson, Will.

Im going to give you a little history, is that O.K.? Will said, speaking from Pachuca, Mexico, where he was preparing to lead a revival. Think about 1948the times were different, but one of the things that my grandfather was dealing with was the image of an evangelist, which was kind of synonymous with what youd think of as a used-car salesman. Will pointed out that two decades earlier Sinclair Lewis had published Elmer Gantry. His grandfather, fighting that huckster stereotype, asked three male colleagues to help him make a list of things that could hurt evangelism. One of them was sexual immorality. In what became known as the Modesto Manifesto, Billy and his team pledged to avoid any situation that could create even the appearance of impropriety. When my grandfather would check into a hotel, a man would go inside the room and look under the bed and in the closets, Will said. What they were afraid of was that someone had snuck in the room, like a naked lady with a photographer, and shed jump into his arms and hed take a picture, and theyd frame my granddaddy.

Times have changed, and so has the rule, meaning that today a righteous man must think about how to avoid female company even in scenarios that dont involve a honey trap. But the jezebel mentality persists. For one thing, if Im meeting with a woman, then theres a temptation that maybe it could be something more, Will said, when asked why dinners posed a risk. Another thing, he said, is that I want to do everything I can to protect my wife and my marriage. He continued, I think Mike Pence loves his wife so much that he never wants anything to jeopardize his marriage to what he believes is the greatest woman hes ever been with.

In practical terms, this means that if a man and a woman need to ride in a car together someone else should come along. (The collective evangelical sexual imagination accounts for infidelity, but apparently not for threesomes.) Breakfast is out. So is coffee. We have glass offices, so that you can see everything, Will said. What would he do if he were on a train and the only other person in the car was a woman? Thats why I always travel with a friend, he said. What if his wife is at home and a workman is coming to the house? I always have someone from my office go there and be with her. There are certain exceptions. Have I been in an elevator when theres been only a woman? Yes. He went on, When Im on that elevator, its, like, Ugh. Not that I dont want to be around a woman, but, actually, I feel uncomfortable.

Back to Pence. Isnt his line of work a little different from an evangelists? Isnt it unfair to offer men a point of access that is closed to women? We believe that a woman could meet with another woman, but a woman couldnt meet with a man, so it would go both ways, Will explained. Just take another person into the room. Of the Vice-President, he said, I dont know Mike Pence, but I think hes just trying to protect that nothing could ever be used against him. Hes got so many pressures on him that thats the last thing he wants to deal with.

At ninety-eight, Billy Graham is still upholding the Billy Graham rule. The problem is, hes got twenty-four-hour nursing care at home, Will said. There are always two nurses, for accountability purposes. Will told a story about his grandfather invoking the Billy Graham rule with Hillary Clinton. In 1989, when Graham was in Little Rock for a crusade, Hillary invited him to lunch. As Graham recounted in his autobiography, he told her that hed be delighted, but, he said, I dont have private luncheons with beautiful ladies. Will said, I dont think anyones ever going to suggest that Billy Graham and Hillary Clinton ever tried anything. I heard she was so surprised that he still kept to those rules, but I think she respected that. In the end, Hillary persuaded him to join her in the crowded dining room of the Capital Hotel, and Graham wrote that he left the encounter greatly impressed by her.

Final question: Is the Billy Graham rule purely about physical proximityin other words, is it O.K. to have a one-on-one telephone chat with a female reporter (who, incidentally, was quietly eating some salt-and-pepper shrimp at her desk)? Thats why Ive got a guy sitting right here beside me, Will said.

Here is the original post:
Virtue and Vice: Mike Pence's Dining Policy - The New Yorker

Even though Ive dwindled down my Facebook time to almost nothing, its easy to see folks have been in a bit of a frenzy concerning Mike Pence and his practical application of how best to love and be faithful to his wife. When I say folks, I am speaking of all folks, Christian and not Christian. But since this is the Patheos Evangelical Channel, and since I am particularly saddened at some Christian responses to the situation (as I believe Christians should support rather than tear one another down), lets discuss Christians only.

What is the right response, the Christian response, to hearing the news that Mike Pence will not dine with women to whom he is not married?

Romans 14 talks about Christians judging other Christians. More specifically, how they shouldnt judge when it comes to eating or not eating meat offered to idols. In the Pence case, we are talking about eating with a woman who isnt a spouse vs a woman who is a spouse. But though the situational specifics are a little different, the command is the same:

Dont judge.

There is a time for making judgment calls. For instance, we are told we will know Christians by their fruits, and there are situations where it is necessary to judge whether someone is truly in the faith. But then there is a time to allow for Christian liberty. In the case of Mike Pence choosing to abstain from all evil and guard his heart with all diligence, it is not time to judge. Its time to allow a fellow brother in Christ to make his own choices about whether to abstain or not abstain from eating with a person of the opposite sex, which we can only assume has been chosen as a safeguard in response to thorough and thoughtful self-examination.

Are there better ways? Should the Vice President choose, as Karen Swallow Prior noted in her article, virtuous living over living by a set of man-made rules? Perhaps! But what if Pence recognizes within himself a significant lack of virtue in the area of sexual purity? What then, is he supposed to do? Put on a show as though he is virtuous and dine with women with whom he is not wed? Or enforce a man-made rule in an effort to do what God has commanded (that is, to remain a one woman man)?

Virtue, as Prior noted, is the better practice. Rules say dont be bad and do not touch when virtue says be good and touch what is good. So we are looking at a negative reinforcement of sorts versus a positive reinforcement of sorts. But if theres anything my forty four years of life and twenty-six years of parenting has taught me, its that different types of reinforcement work for different types of people, personalities, and temperaments. Perhaps Pence responds best to negative reinforcement rather than an encouragement to do what is right out of a sincere, virtuous heart.

Christians should eventually get to the point at which virtue rules in their hearts (and therefore actions), rather than rules determining their actions. But each Christian is in a different place in their sanctification. And Pence is in a different place than the rest of us, in that he has been placed one notch down from the highest political office in the country, which no doubt comes with an excessive opportunities to ignore virtue and follow ones own heart (which is not a virtuous practice, as the world would have us to believe). So who are we as fellow Christians to judge another by what boundaries he has set up to protect the sanctity of his marriage? If the boundary has been established because he recognizes a lack of personal virtue and cannot see any way but a rule to help guide and protect him, who are we to say Chuck the rule. Grow up! Be virtuous!

If he is in a place where rules help him best, then so be it. Or if he simply wishes to not have the added burden of temptations to the already rigorous demands of political office, then so be it. He is at liberty to flesh out the command to be a faithful husband however he and the Lord choose.The Bible is adamant about what we should do when sexual immorality becomes a temptation. It says to flee. Run! Find the nearest EXIT sign and scram. So while Mike Pence, according to some, should not have the need to flee, the fact is that clearly, he does have a need to flee. And we should not despise him for it.

To be clear. Karen Swallow Priors article was a helpful clarification of the differences between rules and virtue, and what the more noble option is when dealing with sexual temptation. There was no judgment being passed, and I appreciated her excellent effort to clarify the differences between virtue-based and rule-based obedience. I am simply adding that for those of us Christians who cannot, for whatever reason, bear Pences methods of ensuring fidelity, Romans 14 instructs to not judge a fellow Christian:

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person only eats vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

It would seem that no matter what stand a politician takes regarding sexual morality, frustration and anger are expressed. But I say if a man is being faithful to his wife, he is to be commended and honored. Pence is in the process of practically working out his own salvation. As am I. As is every Christian. We should be allowing him the freedom to do that, even if it doesnt mirror the practical working out of our own salvation. The Lord is helping us to stand, and hes helping Mike Pence to stand. Pence may require a bigger (or different) crutch than we do, but there is no sin in that. There is, however, sin in belittling a fellow Christian for using a different type of crutch than our own. Or for using one at all, until he can walk without constant assistance.

Being a virtuous person will always be better than being a person who simply knows how to follow rules. But rules, and the obeying of those rules, can and often does pave the road to genuine virtuous living. Once a man has remained faithful for any length of time, it would not be uncommon for that man to see the value in remaining faithful, to reap the positive benefits from it, and to eventually be motivated out of virtue to continue in marital faithfulness.

Ill close with this:

Rule keeping for the sake of rule keeping is not a place we want to stay, or where we want to see our brother stay. But rule keeping is a better place to be than say sleeping around or having emotional affairs with someone other than ones spouse. The heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. But if ones heart is not in it, its still better to do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing than to not do the right thing at all.

Additionally, who is to say that Pence, though he still follows the Billy Graham Rule, does not also obey out of virtue? Its possible he is indeed virtuous, and yet chooses to practice the Billy Graham rule by way of doubling up on safeguards, because he knows that pride goes before a fall, and to trust in his own virtue would be disastrous.Man sees the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. (I Sam. 16:7) and we would do well to recognize that though weve seen some outward appearances, we dont know the Vice Presidents heart.

I commend him for doing the right thing, whatever his reasoning. I also pray that, at some point, virtue may rule in his heart (if it is indeed absent), more than the Billy Graham rule. Still, if I was his wife, Id be grateful for his sheer determination to remain faithful, no matter the method he uses to attain that faithfulness. Karen Pence is blessed. For she has what too many American wives, and especially American wives of politicians, do not have: a husband willing to do whatever it takes to remain faithful.

Continue reading here:
The Proper Christian Response to Mike Pence's Safeguards - Patheos (blog)