Remember when President Donald Trump referred to the House Republicans' version of the American Health Care Act as mean?
They do too, and to quote one of the president's favorite words, it makes them sad!
Republicans on the House and Ways Committee did not take well to mocking from a Democratic colleague who teased at Thursday meeting: "see, we told you your health care bill was mean. Now the president agrees with us."
According to a report by Axios, the sentiment throughout the House GOP is that Trump calling their bill "mean" is going to have "a lingering, and potentially devastating, effect on his credibility among House Republicans." This could even have adverse consequences for Trump when it comes to pursuing aspects of his agenda that may also be difficult for him to push through his own party, such as tax reform and infrastructure legislation.
One Republican congressman told Axios that it was "stunning" for Trump to push so hard for the bill and then "turn around and do this."
The House version of the Obamacare repeal-and-replace legislation is currently in the hands of the Senate, where Republicans have been crafting a revised version of the legislation in secret. This approach has caused consternation not only among Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, but also many Republicans within that chamber, including Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
As Corker told The Washington Post, "the process is better if you do it in public, and that people get buy-in along the way and understand what’s going on."
Shares