Trump hints at pivot back to health care
Switch to tax overhaul complicated by not tackling ACA first
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is again reshuffling his congressional agenda, saying Congress should first pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act before measures such as an overhaul of the tax code can be considered.
The reversal comes just weeks after Trump said he was abandoning the healthcare repeal effort following a nasty split between Republicans on how to proceed. He wanted to pivot immediately to an overhaul of the tax code, but lawmakers and advisers have convinced him that another effort is needed to repeal the healthcare law, which was one of his top campaign promises.
Trump explained his new strategy during a Wednesday interview with Fox Business, though he left open the possibility that he would shift gears again.
“Health care is going to happen at some point,” Trump said. “Now, if it doesn’t happen fast enough, I’ll start the taxes. But the tax reform and the tax cuts are better if I can do health care first.”
The new approach reflects a harsh political reality: Congressional budget rules make it much easier to pass a broad overhaul of the tax code once the roughly $1 trillion in taxes that are in the Affordable Care Act have already been repealed. So if the health-care law is repealed and replaced, the tax overhaul becomes politically easier.
Because overhauling the tax code is so popular among Republicans, he could lure them into compromising on the health-care package to pave the way for a vote on tax cuts before the 2018 midterm elections.
“I think he senses maybe there’s a little bit of a change as people think through the consequences,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who is close to House GOP leaders. “It’s too early in the process to kill this, and it will impact the rest of our agenda. I think other members of different points of view are beginning to figure that out.”
GOP aides familiar with the health-care negotiations, however, said Trump’s remarks did not reflect hopes of an imminent breakthrough.
White House officials — including Vice President Pence and budget director Mick Mulvaney — remain involved in brokering a deal, speaking on several occasions earlier this week with Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus.
The Trump administration’s efforts over the past two weeks have been focused on persuading Freedom Caucus members to support the bill without driving away other House Republicans.
On a Monday conference call, members of the caucus discussed a pair of tweaks to the bill that they concluded could possibly win their support: One would slightly modify a previous proposal to allow states to apply for waivers from Affordable Care Act insurance mandates, making clear that insurers could not price their products based on a person’s health but could use other factors not currently allowed under the ACA. Another would allow ACAcompliant plans to be sold alongside plans subject to the less rigorous mandates.
But the aides said it remained unclear whether either proposal would shift the fundamental intraparty conflict: Hard-line conservatives are eager to reverse as many ACA provisions as possible, while others are concerned about potentially undoing protections for people with preexisting medical conditions.