Most Republicans hope the president will drop the idea of trying to come up with a replacement for Obamacare, which the GOP has failed to accomplish for nearly a decade.
By Seung Min Kim and Seung Min Kim White House reporter Email Bio Follow Josh Dawsey Josh Dawsey Reporter covering the White House Email Bio Follow March 30 at 5:25 PM Republicans have no intention of heeding President Trump’s urgent demands for a new health-care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, fearing the potential political damage that such a proposal could cause in 2020 and hoping he will soon drop the idea, according to interviews with numerous GOP lawmakers, legislative staffers...
Nor does Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley , whose panel would be central to any such debate. When asked whether the two Senate committees overseeing health-care policy are planning to draft a replacement proposal for the Affordable Care Act, Grassley responded flatly: “No.” Trump’s move also has baffled Republicans who wish he would have remained focused on the end of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections rather than plunging the party into another fight over Obamacare, which the party has tried and failed to eliminate for nearly a decade.
Another perplexed GOP senator speculated that the rest of the party will figure out the next steps the next time Graham goes golfing with Trump.In phone conversations with senators and discussions with White House officials, Trump has made it clear he sees health care as a priority. He announced before traveling to a political rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday that he had tapped a trio of GOP senators with health-care expertise — Sens.
“Look, I’m going to try to get something done,” Scott said. “But I think it accelerates everything if the White House had a plan.”A senior White House official directly involved in the discussions said there was no specific proposal. McConnell also has no plans to put together a working group of Republican lawmakers to draft a health-care blueprint as he did in 2017, according to one official familiar with party strategy.
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