After a week of public calls for fellow Republicans in Congress to act on a new plan to repeal and replace the Obama health law, President Donald Trump made clear late Monday night that he does not expect immediate action on any GOP health care changes, saying nothing would happen in Congress until after the 2020 election, and only after the GOP wins back total control on Capitol Hill.
"Vote will be taken right after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win...back the House," President Trump said in a series of tweets, in which he again pledged that the GOP would put together a 'truly great' health care plan.
The President's Twitter pronouncement came as Republicans were engaged in a familiar exercise in Congress, talking about how they would cobble together a new health care plan, but offering little in the way of detail of how this effort would be different than previous failed GOP attempts on health care reform.
In Congress, key GOP Senators seemed to be on a different page than the President about health care - for example, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who has been named by the President as a lead Republican in the effort to write a new health law, told reporters that his focus was something much less sweeping.
“I know what I'm going to focus on,” Scott said at a U.S. Capitol news conference. “I'm going to focus on drug prices.”
Asked by reporters about the decision by Mr. Trump to delay action until after the 2020 elections on health care, Scott had little to say.
“I think you would have to ask the President,” Scott said, instead focusing on a bill he has introduced to help reduce prescription drug prices.
“I'm focused on how you drive down costs for health care,” Scott said, sidestepping questions about a broader repeal plan that he was supposedly going to help lead in developing.
The President's call for a delay in Congressional action on a new Republican health care plan came amid some cracks within the GOP on how to deal with the Obama health law in the courts.
On Monday, the Attorneys General of Ohio and Montana - both Republicans - asked a federal judge in Texas not to use a case involving the individual mandate to rule that the entire Obama health law was unconstitutional, breaking with President Trump.
"The court's decision, if affirmed, will deprive millions of non-elderly Ohioans and Montanans of coverage for pre-existing conditions," the two officials wrote in a friend of the court brief, echoing arguments of Democrats against the lawsuit.
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