\"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date,\" tweeted Trump.<\/p>\n
Trump's declaration -- which marks a political shift for him and could further imperil delicate negotiations on Capitol Hill -- came shortly after Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, urged the President in a letter to repeal Obamacare now and replace later. The current Republican plan in Congress is to do both in one massive piece of legislation, though the Senate's bill has struggled to gain necessary GOP support.<\/p>\n
Sasse quickly approved of Trump's tweet. <\/p>\n
\"Sounds great, Pres. @realDonaldTrump We are agreed. We need to break the logjam,\" he tweeted. <\/p>\n
Trump's message Friday morning also marked a notable return to his efforts to push his agenda rather than distract from it, as he did on Thursday when he viciously and personally attacked MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski. <\/p>\n
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump \"hasn't changed his thinking at all\" on health care as she fielded a question on Trump's tweet this morning on the health care reform efforts. <\/p>\n
\"We're still fully committed to pushing though with the Senate at this point, but we're looking at every possible option of repealing and replacing Obamacare. We are focused on doing that,\" Sanders said. <\/p>\n
Sanders also said she did not know where Trump got the idea for that plan, noting that \"people have been talking about this for quite some time.\" <\/p>\n
\"I don't know where specifically it may have come from,\" she said. <\/p>\n
But Trump's tweet appears to mark a new public stance for him regarding health care. <\/p>\n
\"We're going to do it simultaneously,\" he said. \"It'll be just fine. We're not going to have, like, a two-day period, and we're not going to have a two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced.\" <\/p>\n
The President's tweet also could have the effect of further complicating health care negotiations. A GOP official close to leadership and supportive of the current repeal\/replace effort told CNN: \"Nothing like rolling a hand grenade into ongoing negotiations, eh?\" <\/p>\n
The concern, the official outlined, is that this now gives conservatives a reason to go back to their corner. While they were hardly at the breakthrough point, there's no question conservatives, particularly Sen. Ted Cruz, had been working in good faith to get to a deal. <\/p>\n
Now the concern is conservatives can just say they wanted the 2015 repeal bill all along, and because the President clearly supports that plan, talks on a sweeping replacement plan can be scrapped. <\/p>\n
A GOP Senate aide noted Trump's initial opposition to a straight repeal bill. <\/p>\n
\"We did this dance six months ago,\" the aide said. \"We've litigated repeal, delay, replace. Thoroughly. The President spoke against it. This all might be more helpful if we weren't in the late stages of negotiations.\" <\/p>\n
Appearing on CNN's \"New Day\" on Friday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, also rejected the President's suggestion. <\/p>\n
\"I think it's repeal and replace,\" he told CNN's Chris Cuomo. \"We can argue whether they like the system we're bringing them in or not, but simply a repeal, even with the sunset the year or two down the road -- the problem (is) we know how Washington works.\" <\/p>\n
He explained: \"Sometimes on deadlines we still don't get things done. You can't leave the American people out like this. This is how sequester happened, because we thought we could fix the problem and never did.\" <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Hill Republican leaders floated the idea of repealing Obamacare and providing a transition period during which Congress would write a new law. But many Republicans opposed that idea, and along with Trump calling for passing both simultaneously, the party shifted tactics. <\/p>\n
One reason behind that shift is repealing Obamacare without an immediate replacement plan would likely cause massive destabilization to an insurance market already unnerved by Washington's efforts to address health care. Many insurers are asking for another round of steep rate increases for 2018, and others aren't even willing to return to the exchanges at all. <\/p>\n
The Affordable Care Act was troubled even before Trump took office, but the Republicans' quest to dismantle it has made things worse. Trump has caused confusion about whether he'll continue key components of the law. The two at the top of the list: the mandate that everyone have insurance and the cost-sharing subsidies for lower-income Americans. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the future of the GOP health care efforts remains unclear. Senate Republican leaders scuttled plans for a vote on health care reform earlier this week as GOP leaders criticized the bill, but Trump was optimistic in his outlook Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Trump declined to say what the surprise would be, but his optimism contrasted significantly with the nine Republican senators publicly expressing their opposition to the bill the President is championing. <\/p>\n
The White House can only afford to lose two of the 52 Republicans in the Senate to pass the legislation. <\/p>\n
CNN's Tami Luhby, Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Dylan Stafford contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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Trump: If GOP health care bill fails, repeal Obamacare now ...<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date,\" tweeted Trump. Trump's declaration -- which marks a political shift for him and could further imperil delicate negotiations on Capitol Hill -- came shortly after Sen. Continue reading