Vice President Mike Pence urged Congress Saturday to pass some version of Obamacare repeal this summer so the legislative body can move onto President Donald Trump’s pro-growth economic policies, like tax and regulatory reform.
Members of Congress are currently on recess back in their districts, listening to the concerns of their constituents in town hall meetings and small group settings across the nation. The vice president voiced his own concerns regarding Obamacare to lawmakers Saturday, urging them to recognize the perils consumers face each day that Obamacare remains the law of the land.
“First and foremost, this summer, this Congress must come together and heed the president’s leadership, and we must repeal and replace Obamacare,” Pence told a crowd in Iowa Saturday. “Once we repeal and replace Obamacare, we’re going to roll our sleeves up, and working with these great leaders in Congress, we’re going to pass one of the largest tax cuts in American history.”
Senate staffers are expected to present multiple legislative options for repealing Obamacare to lawmakers when they return to Washington, D.C. Monday. While Pence is assuring the American people that the “Obamacare nightmare is about to end,” disagreements among senators could stall the repeal effort beyond the summer timeline.
[give_form id=”79809″]The Senate’s efforts appear to be stalled by the same conservative-moderate divide that derailed the AHCA in March. Republican Senators are finding it difficult to agree on the best way to roll back Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion program and the best way to ensure pre-existing conditions are still covered under a new plan.
The vice president is not the only Republican in leadership that believes they will get the job done this summer.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn pledged Wednesday that Senate Republicans will pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare this summer.
Cornyn, appearing on the “Chad Hasty Show,” said that the Senate will “absolutely” repeal Obamacare “by the end of July at least.”
The Senate leader cautioned against those who claim Republicans are “running out of time,” but said “we do need to take care of business.”
“You mention healthcare and that’s certainly front and center in the United States Senate, something that we will have to get resolved here in the next few weeks and I expect that we will,” Cornyn said.
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