Trump Admin Snubs McConnell, Prepares Last ObamaCare Repeal Push

Obamacare Repeal
"Just because I have failed to deliver anything, doesn't mean I should be deposed as Senate GOP Leader..."

The White House is now working with Senator Bill Cassidy to decide on a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

It has been indicated that Cassidy has tagged teamed with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to put together a proposal that can possibly “block-grant ObamaCare funding to the states while repealing the law’s individual and employer mandates,” as noted by The Hill.

“I think the president is impatient and the president is kind of jamming the agenda a little bit, rightly so,” Cassidy stated. And added, “He’s afraid momentum will dissipate.”

President Trump had been very critical of Mitch McConnell, and with Senate Republican leadership in public – which may hamper this newest drive to repeal ObamaCare.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made it very evident that he is ready to focus other issues such as the ever increasing levels of debt, the passing of a reform governing the tax code or issues related to the spending deal. “It’s time to move on,” McConnell stated after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) expressed that he had decided to vote against the Senate GOP ObamaCare repeal bill.

However, the White House has one last chance to pass a bill that could defund Planned Parenthood and key provisions of ObamaCare, because of certain budgetary rules in Congress which allows for certain budgetary legislation to be passed through the Senate with a bare majority of 51 votes. And, many conservative activists are encouraging the White House and McConnell to give repeal one last try.

“The continuing lack of leadership on repealing ObamaCare makes Presidential action critical and timely. The President has the authority to move the process of repeal forward and show that he aims to keep his word,” members of the Conservative Action Project highlighted in their memo.

A source from within the White House argued that “I have not heard a single voice in the White House say, ‘Give up on healthcare.’ Everyone keeps saying, ‘Let’s keep trying and let’s keep pushing.” The feeling among White House police staff is clear, the source notes, “We’re definitely not ready to move on and feel members should keep looking for a way to pass the bill. It would be one thing if it had fallen 30 votes short but they just one vote shy of passing a bill in the Senate,” speaking of John McCain’s disappointing betrayal of the GOP promise to repeal ObamaCare.

Moreover, the president tweeted last week expressing that “Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!”

Bill Cassidy, the White House’s new point man for repeal in the Senate, looks forward to the fight, “One thing I will guarantee is that I’ll continue to fight to come up with a plan that fulfills President Trump’s campaign pledges and returns power to patients, returns power to states and is both fiscally sustainable for the individual as well as for the taxpayers.”

The Hill reports that Senator Lindsay Graham is thinking carefully about prospects for repeal as well, “There are 50 votes for the plan in the Senate and that he [Senator Graham] hopes to have 25 Republican governors supporting the bill within the next few weeks…. ‘There will be a tremendous amount of pressure on Republican leadership to take this up. I think Mitch will,’ he said, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)”

Last month, USA Today released an article that discussed alternate heath care plan that that two are set on proposing: “The Graham-Cassidy amendment would keep most taxes from the Affordable Care Act in place and take the money raised and send it back to the states in the form of block grants. The states could then use it to create a state-specific system for providing health insurance,” the article read.

Making the case for his comprehensive amendment, Graham explained, “If you like Obamacare, you can re-impose the mandates at the state level. You can repair Obamacare if you think it needs to be repaired. You can replace it if you think it needs to be replaced.” he added, “It’ll be up to the governors. They’ve got a better handle on this than any bureaucrat in Washington.”

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