He added they are “very close” to having the votes to replace.
President Donald Trump was critical of Senate Republicans for their work — or lack thereof — on health care reform during remarks at the White House today.
“So far Senate Republicans have not done their job in ending the Obamacare nightmare. They now have a chance, however, to hopefully, hopefully fix what has been so badly broken for such a long time. And that is through replacement of a horrible disaster known as Obamacare, ” Trump said today.
“Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare, which is what it is, ” he said while standing in front of a group of Americans the White House referred to as “victims of Obamacare.”
“For Senate Republicans, this is their chance to keep their promise, ” he added.
He went on to say the Senate “is very close to the votes it needs to pass a replacement, ” though there do not appear to be enough votes to pass a motion to proceed to a vote on a repeal without having a replacement plan in place.
The latest whip count had at least three Republican senators against a repeal of Obamacare without a replacement plan in place. In addition to those votes, Senate Republicans are down a vote while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is recovering from recent surgery during which doctors discovered a brain tumor. There can only be two Republican “no” votes for any vote to pass.
During his remarks, Trump then moved on to placing some blame for the failure to come up with a replacement health care bill on the Democrats.
“The problem is we have zero help from the Democrats they’re obstructionists. That’s all they are good at, obstructionism. Making things not work, ” he said.
