Mitch McConnell Shuts Down Trump On Replacing Obamacare
Donald Trump backed off of his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare after Mitch McConnell shut the idea down. According to The New York Times, the Senate majority leader told the president privately that Congress would not be considering his idea before the 2020 election.
Trump surprised many when he issued a series of tweets on Monday night saying that he was no longer pushing his plan to replace Obamacare, saying that while “everybody agrees” that Obamacare isn’t working because it’s too expensive, he wouldn’t be asking Congress to hold a vote on the Republican’s replacement plan, which he said the GOP was currently working on.
He said that the plan would be revealed and voted on in 2021 after Republicans win back the House. He also reiterated his claim that the Republican Party will be known as the party of healthcare.
McConnell revealed on Tuesday that it was his conversation with the president that turned him around on the issue.
“I made it clear to him that we were not going to be doing that in the Senate,” McConnell said. “He did say, as he later tweeted, that he accepted that and that he would be developing a plan that he would take to the American people during the 2020 campaign.”
Democrats, who consider health care messaging to be one of their strengths, are certain to turn the issue into a main focus of their election bids. McConnell said that he made it clear to the president that this wasn’t the time for taking up the battle on healthcare. Initially, Trump had said that he wanted Republicans to come up with legislation to replace Obamacare, blindsiding lawmakers.
“I pointed out to him the Senate Republicans’ view on dealing with comprehensive health care reform with a Democratic House of Representatives,” he said.
JUST IN: McConnell tells Trump: We're not repealing and replacing Obamacare https://t.co/OepeMiNnVq pic.twitter.com/ylz6xcWcLo
— The Hill (@thehill) April 2, 2019
Trump reiterated that he felt the Democrats’ plan was a “disaster,” implying that progressives were planning on doing away with private insurance. The president continued to push his strategy of painting Democrats as extreme and wanting to push a socialist agenda.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat, called the president out after his tweets. He repeated Trump’s claim that Republicans would have a plan in 2021 to revamp health care.
“Translation: they have no health care plan. It’s the same old song they’ve been singing. They’re for repeal. They have no replace,” he said at a rally in front of the Supreme Court.
