President Donald Trump spoke hardly a word about Egypt during a Wednesday photo-op with that nation’s president, but he had plenty to say about pending health care legislation.
Speaking of the Graham-Cassidy bill, a Republican Senate proposal to repeal and replace the Obamacare law, Trump said he believes ‘it has a very good chance of passing, and I certainly hope it passes.’
‘You look at the rates, you look at what’s happening with premiums for people that can’t afford Obamacare,’ he complained, as Abdel Fattah el-Sisi looked on and listened through a translator. ‘It’s been a catastrophic situation.’
‘I believe that Graham-Cassidy will do it the right way, and it is doing it the right way. It has tremendous support from Republicans, certainly we’re at 47 or 48 already, senators, and a lot of others are looking at it very positively.’
Trump recalled that ‘we’ve been hearing about repeal and replace for seven years. They have a chance.’
The face that says ‘Huh?’: Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sat smirking on Wednesday at the United Nations while President Donald Trump ignored him and went on a stemwinder about Obamacare
Trump said in a lengthy ad-lib that he things Senate Republicans have a real chance to pass an Obamacare replacement package
He said he had expected to sign a repeal bill into law on his first day in office, but ‘it hasn’t worked out that way, and I think a lot of Republicans are embarrassed by it.’
Republicans are currently trying to muster support from just a few recalcitrant members of their Senate caucus. They need 50 votes in all – half of the Senate – plus a tiebreaking ‘yea’ from Vice President Mike Pence, who serves as president of the Senate.
Trump predicted that if the Affordable Care Act is left in place, premium increases for 2018 will exceed the sometimes crippling rate hikes some U.S. states saw at the beginning of 2017.
‘You have states like Arizona where the premiums are going to be worse this year than last year, and last year they were at 100 percent increase, 116 percent,’ he said.
‘Obamacare is a disaster, it’s a wreck, it’s a train wreck, and it’s only getting worse,’ he fumed.
‘It’s dysfunctional now. It’s totally dysfunctional. And at some point the Senate is going to be forced to make a deal. They’re just about at that point right now because Obamacare’s so bad.’
Barack Obama unleashed on President Trump and Republicans’ efforts to once again kill his signature piece of legislation, Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. At a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation event in New York City, the former president warned that Republicans could inflict ‘real human suffering’
While President Trump was tweeting about the repeal bill Wednesday, he’s been engaged behind the scenes, with the White House trying to get the full GOP caucus on board
Trump also whacked Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky as he’s currently the only firm ‘no’ vote on a new Republican-led measure to replace Obamacare
The Graham-Cassidy bill would eliminate the government mandate that every American must buy a medical insurance policy or face a fine.
It would devolve most health care spending to the states in the form of block grants, with fewer strings attached than the Obamacare law put in insurance companies when it passed in 2010.
Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, defended his signature law hours earlier at a conference held by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
He called it ‘aggravating’ to see Republicans trying to reverse what he called ‘progress,’ telling an audience in New York City that the GOP could inflict ‘real human suffering’ on Americans.
Republicans have only until the end of September to pass an Obamacare replacement under rules that require just a simple Senate majority. As of October 1, a larger supermajority will be required to end debate and put the bill to a vote.
The bill is named after its two Republican authors, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Obama acknowledged that this was just the latest effort to scar his legacy.
‘When I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage, or roll back protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions – the cancer survivor, the expecting mom or the child with autism, or asthma, for whom coverage once again would be almost unattainable – it is aggravating,’ the former president carped.
‘And all of this being done without any demonstrable economic or actuarial or plain common-sense rationale.’
The Congressional Budget Office won’t be able to fully score the bill by the time it’s expected to hit the Senate floor next week.
Trump used his favorite medium – Twitter – to give the one definitive ‘nay’ vote from his own party a tongue-lashing.
‘Rand Paul is a friend of mine but he is such a negative force when it comes to fixing healthcare,’ Trump wrote Wednesday morning. ‘Graham-Cassidy Bill is GREAT! Ends Ocare!’ he added.
He followed that up with another message to get his follow Republicans on board.
‘I hope Republican Senators will vote for Graham-Cassidy and fulfill their promise to Repeal & Replace ObamaCare. Money direct to States!’ Trump wrote.
With Republicans holding a 52 seat majority in the Senate, and Vice President Mike Pence available to cast a tie-breaking vote, the White House can only afford to lose two GOP senators; at least three are wavering on the measure.
Beyond Paul, Sen. John McCain of Arizona could again thwart the GOP’s plans.
Sen. Lindsey Graham outlined his proposal back in July, and it had quietly been gaining steam since then, with President Trump now fully engaged this week
Sen. Bill Cassidy (right) is the bill’s other author and he and other Republicans are trying to get it passed while they can still use reconciliation, meaning they only need 51 votes including Vice President Mike Pence’s tiebreaker
In recent days, McCain had said he’d need his governor, Doug Ducey, to green light the plan.
Ducey did so Monday afternoon.
In the past, Democrats have hammered Republicans over the number of Americans who would become uninsured under the GOP plan, but Vice President Mike Pence is doing a good amount of arm-twisting going behind the scenes.
Pence, according to a Tuesday pool report, had even reached out to West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin in hope of attracting some across-the-aisle support for the bill.
Manchin is one of a number of Democrats who will be fending off challengers next year from states that helped elect Trump.
Republicans are also looking at Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who faces a stern challenge when she stands for re-election next year.
The Republican holdouts include Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who together with McCain tanked the Republicans’ last bill.
Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia have been cagey about their deliberations.
Collins has said the lack of a CBO score has created misgivings.
And Murkowski has cover to buck her party and vote against the bill, since her state’s governor, Bill Walker – a Republican-turned-independent – has warned of ‘drastic cuts’ in his state’s Medicaid funding under the Graham-Cassidy proposal.