President Donald Trump announced on Saturday morning that he had reached out to the Senate’s Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in an attempt to revive health care negotiations.
‘I called Chuck Schumer yesterday to see if the Dems want to do a great HealthCare Bill. ObamaCare is badly broken, big premiums. Who knows!’ Trump tweeted.
The New York Senator’s answer to the president was in line with what Democrats have said from the start: Getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is a deal-breaker.
President Trump tweeted on Saturday that he had called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in an attempt to revive health care talks
Schumer said the same day that Trump ‘wanted to make another run at repeal and replace and I told the president that’s off the table’
He said through a spokesman the same day Trump ‘wanted to make another run at repeal and replace and I told the president that’s off the table,’ adding that if Trump ‘wants to work together to improve the existing health care system, we Democrats are open to his suggestions.’
Trump’s latest attempt at terminating Obamacare and reaching a deal on health care comes after several Republican failures to fulfill their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare since they took over both the White House and Congress last January.
Trump has suggested before that he would be open to negotiating with Democrats on health care, but there have been no clear signs of a compromise between Republicans who have sought to scrap former President Barack Obama’s law while Democrats want to protect it.
Schumer said a starting point could be negotiations led by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Patty Murray, who have been discussing a limited bipartisan deal to stabilize state-level markets for individual health insurance policies. People covered under the health law represent about half of those who purchase individual policies.
The New York Senator said the Trump’ administration’s plan to allow more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious objections ‘drags the US backwards’
Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelose reached a deal with Trump on a spending bill and the debt ceiling last month, frustrating Republicans
Although both parties say they’re looking for a bipartisan solution to the health care dilemma, Republicans leaders in Congress were irritated by Trump last month after he reached a deal with Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on a spending bill and the debt ceiling.
Moreover, the Trump administration announced Friday that it would allow more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections, a move that represents one more attempt to roll back Obama’s health overhaul, prompting Democrats to question whether Trump is committed to avoiding sabotaging the law.
‘This decision is just the latest in a series of moves the Trump Admin has made to sabotage our health care system. It can’t continue,’ Schumer tweeted, adding that Trump’s decision ‘drags the US backwards’.
Trump’s cliff-hanger tweet on potential talks with Democrats came as he approved an emergency declaration for a large part of Louisiana and ordered federal assistance for the state as Hurricane Nate approached the central Gulf of Mexico.
The president will also headline a fundraiser on Saturday night in Greensboro, North Carolina, to benefit his Trump Victory joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee, an event expected to raise $2 million, with donors paying up to $35,000 per couple to serve as co-hosts.