The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump to senators: House health care bill “mean,”
He asks senators to craft a ‘more generous’ version.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that the House-passed health care bill he helped revive is “mean” and urged them to craft a version that is “more generous,” congressional sources said.
Trump’s remarks were a surprising slap at a Republican-written House measure that was shepherded by House Speaker Paul Ryan and whose May 4 passage the president lobbied for and praised. At a Rose Garden ceremony minutes after the bill’s passage, Trump called it “a great plan.”
The president’s criticism, at a White House lunch with 15 GOP senators Tuesday, also came as Senate Republican leaders’ attempts to write their own health care package have been slowed by disagreements between the party’s conservatives and moderates.
Trump’s characterizations seemed to undercut attempts by Senate leaders to assuage conservatives who want the bill to include measures such as cuts the Medicaid program for the poor and limits on the services insurers must cover. Moderate GOP senators have been pushing to ease those restrictions.
Facing expected unanimous Democratic opposition, Republicans will be unable to pass a Senate bill if just three of the 52 GOP senators vote “no.” Alienating any of them could make approving the measure trickier for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been hoping for a vote before Congress’ July 4 recess.
Trump’s comments were described by two GOP congressional sources who received accounts of Tuesday’s White House lunch. They spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal a closeddoor conversation.
Their descriptions of Trump’s words differed slightly.
One source said Trump called the House bill “mean, mean, mean” and said, “We need to be more generous, more kind.” The other said Trump used a vulgarity to describe the House bill and told the senators, “We need to be more generous.”
Two other congressional GOP officials confirmed the general descriptions of Trump’s words.
The sources say the president did not specify what aspects of the bill he was characterizing.
White House aides declined to talk on the record about Trump’s words. One said, “We aren’t going to comment on rumors about private conversations that may or may not have happened.”
The accounts of Trump’s remarks provided ammunition to Democrats who have unanimously opposed the Republican effort to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
“Americans won’t forget that @HouseGOP passed a ‘mean’ bill to rip healthcare from millions then celebrated @ the WH,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.
The House bill emerged after Ryan had to abruptly cancel a March vote on the measure when it became clear that deep disagreements between Republican conservatives and moderates would have ensured its defeat.
The measure’s final version reflected a compromise by conservative leader Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and centrist Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J. They agreed to language letting states drop requirements under Obama’s health care law shielding people with pre-existing medical conditions from having to pay higher premiums and requiring insurers to cover specific services like maternity care.
At the White House ceremony celebrating House passage, Trump and Ryan praised the legislation as the fulfillment of campaign promises Trump and GOP congressional candidates had long made to repeal Obama’s 2010 statute.
“Many of you have been waiting seven years to cast this vote,” Ryan told the scores of Republican House members present. “Many of you are here because you pledged to cast this vote.”
Asked to comment on Trump’s remarks Tuesday, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said, “Congressional Republicans, with President Trump’s support, are working to repeal and replace this terrible Obamacare law that is harming Americans.”