USA TODAY International Edition
Trump waiting for clamor when Obamacare fails
President: ‘ We’re not going to own it – I’m not going to own it’
The morning after Republican efforts to overhaul health care collapsed on Capitol Hill — threatening his ambitious economic agenda along with it — President Trump said Tuesday he now wants to see the current Obamacare law “fail” so that Americans will demand a change.
“We’re not going to own it — I’m not going to own it — I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll let Obamacare fail and then the Democrats are going to come to us.”
Congressional Democrats said Trump and Republicans will indeed be held responsible for what happens if they repeal the 2010 health care plan without a good plan to replace it. They said that step would, like the proposed Republican alternatives, drive up health care costs and leave millions without insurance.
In calling for bipartisan negotiations, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York said, “it’s like if our health care system was a patient who came in and needed some medicine. The Republicans proposed a surgery. That operation was a failure. Now, Republicans are proposing a second surgery that will surely kill the patient.”
Yet Trump appeared undeterred, standing by his earlier tweet Tuesday: “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!”
Yet in seeking a way forward on health care — as well as an agenda that includes tax reform and infrastructure — Trump has not “always” endorsed a repealonly strategy and has instead backed a variety of ways to address the issue.
Just before he took office, Trump said in January he was nearing completion of a plan to replace Obamacare with the goal of “insurance for everybody” and backed a variety of “repeal and replace” proposals in recent months. And as late as Monday night, Trump endorsed a simple repeal of the law President Obama signed in 2010.
Trump’s call for a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act came after Republican senators Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas said they would oppose a Trump- backed plan to repeal and replace the law, leaving the party well short of majority support. Shortly after, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday announced he was pulling the plan.
The decision appeared to take the White House by surprise. As McConnell made his announcement, Trump was wrapping up a dinner at the White House with a group of Republican senators to discuss health care strategy.
During his morning tweetstorm, Trump generally blamed the other party: “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!”
The collapse of health care puts Trump’s entire legislative agenda at risk. Trump and aides have repeatedly said that their hopes for tax reform hinged on a new health care law because it included changes to the tax code.
Plans for an infrastructure bill, a budget plan and raising the debt ceiling may also be in doubt because of bruised feelings left over from the health care fight.