President Donald Trump has barged into Senate Republicans' delicate health care negotiations with a suggestion bound to muddle things: If you can't cut a deal on repealing the Obama-era law, then repeal it right away and then replace it later.
Trump is trying to revive an approach that GOP leaders and the president himself considered but dismissed months ago as impractical and politically unwise.
And it's likely to further complicate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's task as he struggles to bridge the divide between moderates and conservatives. Senators have left Washington for the Fourth of July break without voting on a bill as planned.
"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!" Trump wrote early Friday.
Later that day, McConnell told reporters after an event in his home state of Kentucky that the health bill was challenging but "we are going to stick with that path."
Trump is trying to revive an approach that GOP leaders and the president himself considered but dismissed months ago as impractical and politically unwise.
And it's likely to further complicate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's task as he struggles to bridge the divide between moderates and conservatives. Senators have left Washington for the Fourth of July break without voting on a bill as planned.
"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!" Trump wrote early Friday.
Later that day, McConnell told reporters after an event in his home state of Kentucky that the health bill was challenging but "we are going to stick with that path."
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