Trump’s ultimatum to Congress on replacement for Obamacare
DONALD TRUMP today gave US lawmakers an ultimatum to vote for an Obamacare replacement scheme or risk losing the opportunity to overturn America’s health system.
He lost patience with Republican rebels on Capitol Hill who put the freeze on yesterday’s planned ballot. If members of Congress cannot agree on the Republican healthcare plan, the White House will move on to other priorities, the president warned.
As a meeting with senior aides ended last night, he tweeted from his official presidential account: “Disastrous #Obamacare has led to higher costs & fewer options. It will only continue to get worse! We must #RepealANDReplace. #PassTheBill.” Mr Trump was infuriated by the failure of Republicans, who hold a majority in the House of Representatives, to guarantee that the embattled healthcare package crafted by Speaker Paul Ryan would win approval.
The vote was stalled yesterday amid concern that it could fail.
If the measure falls short in today’s delayed vote it would be a major setback for Mr Trump’s administration in his first attempt to pass major legislation. It could also jeopardise other priorities on the president’s wish list, such as an overhaul of the tax system.
The White House dispatched four senior officials to meet Speaker Ryan and other Republican members of Congress in a last-ditch attempt to bring lawmakers into line.
Marathon meetings were also going on through the night with members of the hardline Republican Freedom Caucus in a bid to secure the votes needed to pass the new legislation. Mr Ryan said: “For seven and a half years we have been promising the American people we will repeal and replace this broken law, because it’s collapsing and it’s failing families. And tomorrow we’re proceeding.”
But a large number of rebel Republicans today said they were still opposed or were yet to make up their minds.
In the key meeting with House Republicans last night, budget director Mick Mulvaney reportedly told his former colleagues: “The president needs this. He has said he wants a vote tomorrow up or down. If for any reason it’s down, we’re just going to move forward with additional parts of his agenda. This is our moment in time.” The conservative faction in Congress is basically telling Mr Trump that his plan is too similar to Obamacare and that they will vote it down unless or until he changes it to make it less liberal. Yesterday Mr Trump met truck drivers at the White House and even got behind the wheel to honk the horn and pretend to drive.