Trump to speak Monday on health care
President Trump on Monday will speak to the press at the White House about health care, minutes after meeting with what he calls “victims of Obamacare.”
The statement, announced late Sunday by the White House, comes nearly a week after Trump pressed Republican senators to agree to an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, before taking an August recess.
At a White House lunch on Wednesday, he told lawmakers, “I don’t think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan.” Trump added, “We shouldn’t leave town until this is complete, until this bill is on my desk.”
He also said Republicans who favor a delay in debating the legislation would signal that they are “fine with Obamacare.”
Trump is making an aggressive push on health care, in spite of the fact that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been unable to secure enough support to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature 2010 health care law. McConnell has said he is willing to repeal the law and hold a vote on it next week, but three Republican senators have already indicated that they won’t vote to bring it to the floor.
Trump’s new effort, and his push for a victory on health care, stand in contrast to his statements earlier last week.
After GOP leaders last Monday said they would pull a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump said he was inclined to simply leave the current law in place, predicting it would “fail” and force Democrats to cooperate on a new plan.
“We’re not going to own it — I’m not going to own it — I can tell you, the Republicans are not going to own it,” Trump said on Tuesday. “We’ll let Obamacare fail and then the Democrats are going to come to us, and they’re going to say, ‘How do we fix it?'”
By Wednesday, Trump told senators: “We can repeal, but we should repeal and replace … I’ll sign it.”
Trump tweeted late Sunday: “If Republicans don’t Repeal and Replace the disastrous ObamaCare, the repercussions will be far greater than any of them understand!”
source:-view-source:https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/24/trump-meet-victims-obamacare/503679001/
