Trump demands Republicans replace Obamacare before August recess, but McConnell is wary

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — One day after President Trump declared he wanted to let the current health care law fail, he pressed Republican senators to agree to an alternative plan to replace Obamacare before taking any August recess.

"I don't think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan," Trump said during a White House lunch attended by 49 of the 52 Republican senators. "We shouldn't leave town until this is complete, until this bill is on my desk."

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was already hedging about whether that's possible.

He promised to hold a vote next week to debate a bill to simply repeal Obamacare – without a replacement – but it's not clear whether he even has the votes to do that.

"It's pretty obvious we've had difficulty in getting 50 votes," McConnell said.

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The president also issued a warning to Republicans who want to delay taking action. "Any senator who votes against debate says you are fine with Obamacare," he said.

Trump made his demands while seated next to Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who is considered vulnerable in next year's congressional elections and has opposed Republicans' health care plans. Trump backers have also threatened a primary challenge of Heller over his recalcitrance.

In an apparent reference to the political minefield Heller is facing on health care, Trump said: "Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn't he?"

Two of the three GOP senators not in attendance – John McCain of Arizona and Johnny Isakson of Georgia – are recovering from surgery. The third missing senator, Richard Burr of North Carolina, said he couldn't attend because he was presiding over the Senate at lunch.

The less-than-perfect attendance at the White House underscores the difficulties for Trump and Republicans, even though they control both chambers of Congress. McConnell has been unable to secure enough support to repeal and replace Obamacare. He is willing to repeal the law and hold a vote on it next week – but there are already three Republican senators who say they won’t vote to bring it to the floor.

In making his plea to Republicans, Trump also tore into his critics, singling out Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York, who has said the GOP health care plan is a matter of life and death for Americans who might lose coverage. "He was saying death, everyone's going to die – Death! Death! Death!" Trump said. "That's the only thing they're good at."

The president also denounced predecessor Barack Obama as well as the health care law that bears his name, telling senators “Obamacare was a big lie," and "it was a lie directly from the president."

Trump is making an aggressive push to achieve some kind of victory on health care, after several days of mixed messages.

After GOP leaders announced Monday night they would pull a bill to "repeal and replace" the 2010 health care law signed by Obama, 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 told reporters at the White House 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?'"

Yet by Wednesday morning, Trump – who has sent conflicting signals throughout the health care debate over the course of the year – changed his tune, telling senators: "We can repeal, but we should repeal and replace ... I'll sign it."

Still, as he announced Wednesday's lunch meeting, Trump already appeared to be distancing himself from his party or the fate of the repeal and replace efforts, repeatedly referring to Republicans as "they" and the health care plan as "their" bill.

Tweeting ahead of his lunch with the Senate Republicans, Trump said "they MUST keep their promise to America!"

"The Republicans never discuss how good their healthcare bill is, & it will get even better at lunchtime," Trump said in another post. "The Dems scream death as OCare dies!"

Trump campaigned on a pledge on a campaign to repeal and replace Obamacare with a plan that does not cut Medicaid, covers "everybody," and provides people with preexisting conditions similar coverage as current law.

He cheered passage of a House plan – which passed by a narrow 217 to 213 margin – and even hosted a party in the White House to celebrate its passage in early May.

The Congressional Budget Office said the House bill would lead to 23 million fewer people having health insurance by 2026 as compared to Obamacare. And the health care issued moved to the Senate, Trump declared the House bill too "mean," and urged GOP senators to make changes.

Now, Democrats are saying the Republicans should work with them, instead of Trump, given the president's recent comments. "Do they want to take the path of President Trump, who yesterday said he wanted our healthcare system to fail, or do they want to work with Democrats on legislation to improve the law?" said Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York.

Trump held a similar White House meeting with the Senate Republican caucus last month. At that confab, the president sat between GOP senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – both of whom were in opposition to the Republican alternative to Obamacare.

Republicans have had a variety of objections to a health care plan that had been pushed by McConnell.

Some, including Collins and Murkowski, protested rollbacks in the Medicaid program. Some of the more conservative Republicans, such as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said the GOP plan did not go far enough in repealing Obamacare, particularly its tax provisions.

It was a Monday night announcement by Lee and Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas that forced McConnell to shelve the Republican repeal and replace plan

As Republican senators planned to head to the White House, Moran told reporters: "I don’t know what the next step is."

Contributing: Eliza Collins

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