DISTANCING?

Tom Price Admits: GOP Health Care Bill ‘Work in Progress’

“Nothing focuses the mind like a bill currently sitting on the table.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price on Tuesday told reporters that the Republican health-care bill is a “work in progress,” distancing the White House from every controversial aspect of the proposal. When asked whether the administration supports “everything that’s in the bill sitting on the table,” Price replied: “This is a work in progress and we'll work with the House and the Senate. As you know, it's a legislative process that occurs.” Several influential conservative organizations—including Heritage Action and the Club for Growth—have come out against the GOP plan, despite President Trump having tweeted that it was a “wonderful” bill. The HHS secretary, however, dismissed concerns over the bill and focused on it being a “starting point,” telling the press: “People engage and they get involved the process. Sometimes, to a greater degree, nothing focuses the mind like a bill currently sitting on the table. We’ll work through it.”