President Trump believes the four Republican senators who say they will not vote for the GOP healthcare bill as it’s written now will eventually come around to support the legislation, according to a Fox News interview that aired Friday.
“Well, they’re also four good guys and they’re four friends of mine. And I think that they’ll probably get there,” Trump said told Fox News. “It’s that very, very narrow path, but I think we’re going to get there. We have four very good people that — it’s not that they’re opposed, they’d like to get certain changes and we’ll see if we can take care of that.
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.@realDonaldTrump: Boy would the people love to see two parties getting together and coming up with the perfect healthcare plan. pic.twitter.com/bcOD1u87ll— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 23, 2017
GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky are the four conservatives who said they cannot support the bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office released Thursday.
Trump insisted Republicans would get behind the American Health Care Act and predicted the bill to partially replace Obamacare would be passed soon.
“You know, healthcare is a very difficult situation. If you look, the Clintons tried to get it and after years and years, they couldn’t do it. Obamacare was murder for them to get. And now it failed,” Trump said.
“And we’re trying to do something in a very short period of time. It’s interesting because I’ve been here for only five months. People are saying, ‘Where’s the healthcare, where’s the healthcare?'” Trump added. “Well, I’ve done in five months what other people haven’t done in years. And it’s been — people have worked on healthcare for many years. It’s a very complicated situation from the standpoint, you do something that’s good for one group but bad for another.”
Trump will need at least two of the four senators to change their minds if the bill is going to pass. Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, but they have just 52 seats, which means they can lose only two to get a 50-50 tie that would be broken by Vice President Pence.
While the four GOP senators oppose the bill “as written,” Republican leaders are hoping to debate several amendments to the bill by next week, and its possible some of those changes could change the minds of some senators.
Cruz, for example, has indicated an interest in changing the rules so insurers can offer plans that don’t comply with Obamacare’s rules, which he said would help lower premiums.
