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.
