Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said President Trump has “abdicated his responsibility as president of the United States” by saying he won’t take ownership of failures associated with Obamacare.
“They have failed,” McAuliffe, a Democrat, said of Trump and Republicans, in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Tuesday night. “I find it morally repugnant what the president said today that potentially 30 million Americans can lose their health insurance, and he’s like a little spoiled kid who picks up his marbles and walks away.”
Senate Republicans abandoned their repeal-and-replacement plan on Monday after it became apparent it didn’t have the votes to pass.
McAuliffe said Trump should push to work with Democrats in a bipartisan way to improve Obamacare.
“Where is the leadership? We have a void of leadership today,” McAuliffe said. “He [Trump] ought to stand up and be a statesman. He ought to pull together. This is how negotiations [used to be] done. Parties came together for the good of the country. Donald Trump has abdicated his responsibility as president of the United States. He is now hurting Americans, and he is going to pay the price politically.”
McAuliffe’s comments come a day after Senate Republicans were forced to abandon their effort to repeal and replace parts of Obamacare due to a lack of GOP support.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Monday night he intended for the Senate to vote on a measure to repeal Obamacare and delay replacing it for two years. But enough Republicans came out against that plan on Tuesday to prohibit it from moving forward.
Despite that expected failure, McConnell said the chamber will vote next week on the bill to repeal Obamacare.
Trump said on Tuesday that Republicans should let Obamacare fail before coming to a solution.
