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WASHINGTON President Trump capped the most low-key week of his presidency on Friday by meeting with House Republican leaders to congratulate them on their bill to repeal and replace the health care law.

Trump has been noticeably less accessible since unleashing a series of posts on Twitter last weekend accusing President Barack Obama of bugging Trump Tower during the campaign. He abandoned for the first time his nearly daily ritual of chatting with reporters before meetings and other events at the White House.

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On Friday, Trump convened what was billed as a strategy session in the Roosevelt Room with Vice President Mike Pence; Representative Diane Black, Republican of Tennessee, chairwoman of the Budget Committee; Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas, the Ways and Means Committee chairman; Representative Greg Walden, Republican of Washington, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee; and several other key Republicans.

The Republican bill which White House officials have described as a work in progress most likely to undergo significant change cleared the Ways and Means and the Energy Committees on Thursday after nightlong sessions to review and amend the proposal earlier in the week.

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The measure, which faces potential opposition from at least three Senate Republicans and the Houses ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, is expected to pass the Budget Committee soon and then be voted on by the House within the next two weeks.

The meeting at the White House came as the presidents staff was celebrating the federal jobs report released Friday, which covered Trumps first full month in office. In February, the economy added a better-than-expected 235,000 jobs, which prompted a renewed round of jubilant posts on Twitter by some on the presidents team.

Dan Scavino Jr., director of the White House social media operation, posted the number 235 on Twitter with an American flag.

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Great news for American workers in first report for @POTUS Trump, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer posted.

Trump often questioned the veracity of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report during the 2016 campaign, when job growth often exceeded 200,000 a month, arguing that the statistics were rigged to make Democrats look better.

There was no hint of that skepticism Friday. At 8:41 a.m., less than an hour after the February numbers posted, Trump retweeted a news report on them.

The posts by Trump and Spicer may have violated a federal rule barring executive branch employees from publicly commenting on principal economic indicators for at least one hour after the official release time.

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Trump praises House Republican leaders on health bill - The Boston Globe

March 10, 2017, 1:57 p.m.

Republican David Hadley, a former assemblyman from Manhattan Beach, says he is exploring a run for governor in 2018.

Hadley, who served one term in Assembly District 66 before being defeated by Democrat Al Muratsuchi last year, filed papers Friday to open a gubernatorial campaign committee.

"On a whole series of issues, I think California public policy is lacking a lot of balance and a lot of common sense," Hadley said in an interview with the Times. "We have allowed the distractions of political polarization and fake culture war battles to keep us from focusing on the things that we should be focusing on, which is a better future for all Californians."

Hadley said if he proceeds with a run, his attention will be on Californians who "are struggling the most," particularly with poverty, high housing costs and the cost of energy.

He said he plans to make a final decision about whether he's running in the "next couple of months."

Hadley emphasized his bipartisan appeal as an asset for his possible gubernatorial run. In 2014, he was elected to a district where Democrats had an eight-percentage-point voter registration advantage, and during his tenure was the Republican legislator representing a district entirely within Los Angeles County.

"I'm confident that if I chose to fully pursue and declare my candidacy and run, that I would have a lot of support both inside and outside the Republican Party," Hadley said. "I think I have a good track record of engaging with voters and residents from all over the political spectrum."

Hadley is the only potential GOP candidate for governor that has prior experience as an elected official. Former NFL player Rosey Grierand attorney John Cox have also said they're running, while San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and former Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin have said they will not.

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David Hadley, former Republican assemblyman from Manhattan Beach, files to run for California governor in 2018 - Los Angeles Times

In 2013 during a meeting of the House Energy and Commerce committee, another Republican, Rep. Renee Elmers of North Carolina asked the same thing.

"Do men not have to buy maternity coverage?" Ellmers said, referring to the health-care law's essential health benefits. "To the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?"

Hey, Republicans, heres a newsflash: the men will be just fine. But in case you really need proof, heres what insurance expert Nancy Metcalf has to say about that:

Health insurance, like all insurance, works by pooling risks. The healthy subsidize the sick, who could be somebody else this year and you next year. Those risks include any kind of health care a person might need from birth to death-prenatal care through hospice. No individual is likely to need all of it, but we will all need some of it eventually. [...]

So, as a middle-aged childless man you resent having to pay for maternity care or kids' dental care. Shouldn't turnabout be fair play? Shouldn't pregnant women and kids be able to say, "Fine, but in that case why should we have to pay for your Viagra, or prostate cancer tests, or the heart attack and high blood pressure you are many times more likely to suffer from than we are?"

We know the Republican men in Congress certainly dont want to give up their Viagra or Rogaine. And women across the country dont want to give up pregnancy and childbirth coverage either. And in a decent and humane society, we shouldnt have to.

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Covering pregnancy and birth through insurance? Not part of the Republican agenda - Daily Kos

After CNN reported Thursday night that President Donald Trump was open to moving up the sunset of the Medicaid expansion up from 2020 to the end of this year, GOP leaders supporting the bill are still committed to their original plan.

"I think right now that would be very difficult to do," Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters in a news conference Friday morning on Capitol Hill.

Republican leaders in Congress warn that making changes to the Medicaid provision could seriously imperil the legislation among more moderate members and perhaps still not be enough to assuage the most stringent conservatives.

Reforming the Medicaid expansion allowed under the Affordable Care Act has becomes one of the most contentious hurdles for lawmakers repealing the Affordable Care Act. Not only are there conservative and moderate Republican interests at odds, but the wishes of non-expansion state and expansion-state lawmakers are in direct conflict. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that nearly 11 million people have become insured because of the expansion, people who moderates and expansion states lawmakers have argued cannot be left out in the cold as a consequence of the GOP bill.

Rep. Tom MacArthur, a Republican from New Jersey and co-chair of the moderate Tuesday Group, said that moving up the Medicaid expansion sunset could cost votes.

"We are giving states more time and people, more importantly, more time to move into the Medicaid expansion opportunity. I think the current date is better and I don't like the idea of making it shorter," MacArthur said. "I think the needle leadership is trying to thread right now is exactly that between people who want to take things out of the bill and make it less than it is and those of us who are already struggling with the effectiveness on the most vulnerable. "

While Trump has hinted he's open to changing the Medicaid provision, Republican leadership has kept tight control of this process. This week, both the House's Ways and Means and the Energy and Commerce's Committees voted along party lines to advance the substance of the legislation as it was originally written. Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, had threatened to introduce an amendment rolling back Medicaid expansion to the end of this year, but even he ended up pulling it. And as a senior Republican aide pointed out, three freedom caucus members who serve on the committees voted for the bill without changes.

Friday morning there was some agitation that Trump was adding a bit of unpredictability to a process House leaders had managed effectively up till this point.

The insinuation Friday morning from members was that the White House had worked hand-and-hand with Hill leaders to negotiate this package even though some conservatives in the House -- as well as several senators -- have publicly criticized the bill since it was introduced Monday.

When asked Friday if Trump's comments had changed the dynamics on Medicaid, Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican from Illinois on Energy and Commerce said that just because Trump was open to it, didn't mean other members would be.

"Maybe he is. I'm not sure all the members are," Shimkus said.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden vehemently defended the Medicaid portion of the bill as it is written now saying that it came after consultation with governors, insurance commissioners and the White House.

"What we want to make sure is we don't create any gaps here," Walden said. "Our best effort is what you see before us."

McCarthy reiterated that Trump supported the bill and wanted the bill to pass.

"Why shouldn't the President communicate and listen to members?" McCarthy asked. "If we're going through three different phases why wouldn't we continue to listen to them? Why wouldn't we continue to work together?"

Republican leaders have said at every turn that the House bill to repeal Obamacare is just the first step in their plans to reform health care. They also plan to have Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price use his authority at the agency to make changes at the administrative level. Then, members will be able to move additional legislation on the floor through regular order. The obstacle on that, however, is that those pieces of legislation will require 60 votes in the Senate, not the 51 required through the process of reconciliation. Getting Democrats on board with Republican health care bills will be a major and perhaps, impossible lift

GOP leaders are aiming to finish the legislative process with the proposal by the mid-April Easter recess.

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Hill Republican leaders reject suggestion to move up Medicaid expansion sunset - CNN

New York Times

The Republican Health Care Crackup New York Times Members and staff members on the House Energy and Commerce Committee finishing amendments to their portion of a health care bill on Thursday. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times. The Republican health care bill could represent the moment ... and more »

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The Republican Health Care Crackup - New York Times