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Repeal and replace is getting a rethink.
President Trump on Wednesday admitted it will be “tough” to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the GOP-controlled Congress might only get “very close” to fulfilling the signature campaign promise.
Meanwhile, even more Republican Senators backed away from the Senate’s health care bill, further hurting any chance it will pass.
Trump told White House reporters a health care overhaul would be “something really special if we can get it done.”
“Always tough. It’s probably the toughest subject from the standpoint of approval,” he said.
In fact, an approval poll released that day from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College showed only 17% of Americans supporting the Senate bill.
Trump said the GOP is “going to get at least very close, and I think we’re going to get it over the line.”
Later, at a White House reception for the Chicago Cubs, Trump told the media he would have a “great, great surprise” about health care, and gave no other information.
His comments came a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed the vote he hoped to hold before July 4 on the Senate’s GOP health care bill. The plan would have failed if only three Republican senators voted against it; at the time, six said they would.
On Wednesday, more Republican senators spoke out against the bill for the first time.
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska complained that it was “not a full repeal” of Obamacare.
“What this bill is, is mostly just a Medicaid reform package,” he told the Omaha World-Herald.
“Nebraskans are dissatisfied with it and so am I.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia told CNN there was a “great divide” between states on how to handle Medicaid, which would likely make an agreement impossible.
Trump campaigned on a promise to “quickly” repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law and replace it with something “better.” He celebrated with GOP Congress members in May when they narrowly passed their version of a replacement bill.
But Trump has been oddly aloof about the bill since then. Weeks after celebrating the House victory, Trump told GOP lawmakers the bill was “mean” and needed more “heart” and financial generosity. Trump’s shrug about the bill on Tuesday came after McConnell made exhaustive efforts behind the scenes to win over reluctant Republicans.
Trump insisted he was still immersed in the issue, tweeting Wednesday morning, “Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare. Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.”
Any chance of the GOP fully supporting behind the bill seemed to disappear after the Congressional Budget Office released an estimate saying it would cost 22 million Americans health insurance over the next decade. That is barely an improvement from the first House version of the bill, which was expected to take away coverage from 24 million people.