MOVE ON

Report: Republican Lawmakers Secretly Hope Trump Will Soon Drop Obamacare Overhaul Idea

There are reportedly no plans to craft a proposal for the Obamacare replacement that Trump is so aggressively pushing.

Republican lawmakers who have been urged by President Trump to come up with a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act are secretly hoping he’ll soon discard the idea, The Washington Post reports. Several GOP lawmakers, administration aides and legislative staffers reportedly told the Post that there aren’t even any plans at the moment to craft an Obamacare overhaul, despite the president’s aggressive push for a new health-care plan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is said to have no intention of getting involved in the matter, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) told the Post the two Senate committees that oversee healthcare policy don’t plan to draft any proposals for an Obamacare replacement. “Obamacare is something that’s not going to be replaced unless the courts would declare it unconstitutional,” Grassley was quoted as saying. The sentiment among Republican lawmakers described by the Post echoes that expressed in the party immediately after Trump unexpectedly re-ignited the health-care issue earlier this week. “They are completely tone deaf,” one GOP strategist told The Daily Beast at that time. “How bout a few more victory laps on Mueller while you can get away with it? WTF is wrong with them?”

TRICKY TERRITORY

GOP Lawmakers to Trump: You Go First on Obamacare Reform

Sam Stein