Representative Mo Brooks, of Alabama, can be counted among those Republican lawmakers who are pushing back against the GOP replacement bill.

When I say, “pushing,” I mean he’s pushing hard.

He does not like this bill. Period.

Said Brooks earlier today:

“It is one of the worst bills I have seen in my 30 years as a county commissioner, legislator, district attorney and now congressman,” he said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“No, I’m not going to surrender on an issue as important as ObamaCare. I am going to vote against it though. It is very, very bad in a variety of ways.”

And here’s the kicker:

“On the other hand, you’ve also got a bill that is the largest welfare program ever proposed in the history of the Republican Party,” he said.

Emphasis mine.

“Finally, what this legislation does, in effect, is turn the American government over in time to the Bernie Sanders socialist end of the political spectrum,” Brooks added, referencing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described Democratic socialist. “And that truly will be a disaster for our country.”

Yeah, putting that “R” at the front, calling this a “Republican” replacement of one steaming pile of horse hockey for a sweaty pile of pig poop doesn’t make it more palatable.

Brooks, of course, is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative stalwarts of the Republican party.

President Trump has threatened to go after any Republicans that fail to support this really bad idea, and have them primaried in the next election.

In answer to these threats, the powerful Koch Brothers network have vowed to put their political clout and funding behind any Republican lawmaker who stood firm against this bill. I actually touched on that over at the Resurgent.

Trump further went after the HFC in a morning tweet:

“The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!” he tweeted.

That is pretty much the only good part of the bill, but it is something that could be done, regardless, either in a better replacement plan or connected to some other funding bill. Trump’s tweet was disingenuous.

As it now stands, the bill is losing more support, rather than gaining any, so it is seeming less likely to make it past today’s vote.