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What Did He Say? Trump's Stern Health Care Lecture to Senate GOP

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Obamacare repeal and replace is still alive in the U.S. Senate.
    
President Trump met with Republican senators Wednesday and urged them to get the job done. Now, it looks like they won't leave for summer recess until they vote on yet another health care bill.

The president summoned the G.O.P. senators to the White House for lunch. But instead of being served just chicken or steak, they received a stern presidential lecture on commitment.
 
"For seven years you promised the American people that you would repeal Obamacare," Trump reminded them. "People are hurting. Inaction is not an option and frankly, I don't think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan, unless we can give our people great health care."
 
Senate rejection of the most recent health care proposal disappointed the president.
 
And with a growing number of G.O.P. senators now saying they won't vote for Obamacare repeal without a replacement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is focusing in on new health care legislation. 
 
The new bill up for consideration is actually an old one approved by the Senate in 2015 repealing Obamacare. It includes one major difference from the bill for a new health care system which the Senate just rejected: senators will be able to offer changes.
 
"Wide open for amendment no matter what I offer for a substitute first, it's fully amendable," McConnell explained. 

But senators must first agree to let the new legislation come up for a vote. 
 
And The Hill reports a bold move for the new health care bill: $200 billion in funding to help states pay for Medicaid expansion. 

That might be enough to pick up several moderate Republican votes, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. said he'll oppose any bill that provides more big government programs and insurance company bailouts. 
 
He'd like to see insurance buying groups, or co-ops, established to reduce costs for consumers, and he believes President Trump has the legal authority to do it without Congress.
 
"I think there is one enormous thing that President Trump can do on his own and that is to let anybody in the country get out of the individual market where the death spiral is and get into an association so they can get better pricing," Paul said.
 
McConnell said he expects senators to vote next week to consider the new health care bill.

"We cannot keep the commitment we made to the American people to repeal and replace Obamacare unless we get on the bill," he explained. 
 
And that means first, letting the bill come up for a vote on the floor of the Senate.

"Any senator who votes against starting debate is really telling America that you're fine with Obamacare," President Trump insisted. "But being fine with Obamacare isn't an option for another reason because it's gone, it's failed, it's not going to be around."
 

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About The Author

Gary Lane
Gary
Lane

Mr. Lane currently serves as International News Director and Senior International Correspondent for CBN News. He has traveled to more than 120 countries—many of them restricted nations or areas hostile to Christianity and other minority faiths where he has interviewed persecution victims and has provided video reports and analysis for CBN News. Also, he has provided written stories and has served as a consultant for the Voice of the Martyrs. Gary joined The Christian Broadcasting Network in 1984 as the first full-time Middle East Correspondent for CBN News. Based in Jerusalem, Gary produced