On Wednesday, President Trump took a more active role in the Senate health care debate, as GOP lawmakers try one more time to repeal Obamacare, before their chance to do it with just a majority vote runs out.
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.
President Trump (left) went after one of his own today, whacking Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. (right), for saying he will vote against a new Republican health care reform bill
President Trump whacked Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Wednesday morning, as he’s currently the only ‘no’ vote on a new Republican-led measure to replace Obamacare
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
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had 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, R-La. (right), is the other bill author and he and other Republicans are trying to get it passed while they can still use reconciliation, meaning they only need 51 votes
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tweeted a response to President Trump later Wednesday morning, linking Sen. Lindsey Graham’s health care plan to an immigration bill the South Carolina senator supported several years, which Paul branded as ‘amnesty’
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.
Several hours later, Paul shot back: ‘#GrahamCassidy is amnesty for Obamacare,’ he wrote.
‘It keeps it, it does not repeal it,’ Paul said. ‘I will keep working with the President for real repeal.’
The message alluded to Graham’s role in trying to get an immigration reform bill passed in 2013, which conservatives branded as an amnesty effort in order to kill the legislation.
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, with at least three more wavering on the measure.
The bill was brought forth by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., in July and has quietly picked up steam.
Yesterday it officially thwarted more bipartisan plans, as the leaders of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced that their negotiations to find a short-term Obamacare fix had collapsed.
Murray, the Democrat, sounded more hopeful that they could return to the negotiating table at a later date and get something passed.
‘I am disappointed that Republican leaders have decided to freeze this bipartisan approach and are trying to jam through a partisan Trumpcare bill, but I am confident that we can reach a deal if we keep working together – and I am committed to getting that done,’ she said in a statement late Tuesday.
But right now Republicans are focused on finally getting some points on the board as the Trump administration and GOP Congress has yet to have one major legislative victory since the beginning of the year.
Party leaders are working on a number of GOP lawmakers who could cause them to fall short.
Beyond Paul, there’s the threat that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., could again thwart the measure by being a no vote.
In recent days, McCain had said he’d need his governor, Doug Ducey, to green light the plan.
Ducey did so Monday afternoon.
McCain said he’d also like to see the Senate return to regular order.
As a way to appease this demand Republicans will hold a committee hearing next week titled, ‘Block Grants: How States Can Reduce Health Care Costs,’ in front of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The committee is chaired by a Graham-Cassidy co-sponsor, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and typically doesn’t dabble in health care matters.
During a Tuesday press conference, Graham didn’t hide the fact that this was being done to give McCain cover.
‘My friends on the other side love process when it advantages them,’ he told reporters. ‘So there will be a public hearing, what John has been asking for.’
Shortly after, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., whose caucus looks like it will vote against the bill en masse, called the Republicans out for this.
‘One hearing, on one day, without a CBO score with two witnesses against the bill,’ he began. ‘That’s a hearing, that a full airing of the bill? Come on!’
‘They are ashamed of this bill, they are afraid to find out what it actually does and so we get another bill in the dark of night,’ Schumer charged.
The Congressional Budget Office has said it will release a preliminary review of the bill early next week, but that won’t include coverage, premium and deficit estimates right away.
In the past, Democrats have hammered Republicans over the number of Americans who would become uninsured under the GOP plans versus with the country sticking with Obamacare, which mandates people buy health insurance or face a penalty under the law.
While Trump is tweeting about health care today, Pence made is clear yesterday that there was a good amount of arm-twisting going on behind the scenes courtesy of the White House.
Pence, according to a Tuesday pool report, had even reached out to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., in the hopes to attract some moderate Democratic support for the bill.
Manchin is one of a number of Democrats who will be fending off challengers next year from Trump-voting states.
Republicans are also looking at Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., as an endangered Democrat – she’s facing an uphill election battle next year – who might be willing to support Graham-Cassidy too.
Among the Republican holds-outs – Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Lisa Murkowsky, R-Ala. – who had together with McCain tanked the Republicans last bill. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., have simply said they’re looking at it.
Collins has said she has misgivings, especially since a complete CBO score won’t yet be released.
Murkowski has cover to buck her party again and vote against the bill, as her state’s governor, Bill Walker, a Republican-turned-independent, has warned of the ‘drastic cuts’ coming down the pipeline for his state’s Medicaid recipients if it goes through.