Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued Tuesday President Trump is “trying to undermine” the U.S. healthcare system by threatening to let it collapse after Republicans came out against both the Better Care Reconciliation Act and a clean repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
“He wants to throw up his hands rather than roll up his sleeves to work with us and solve the problem,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “He is actively trying to undermine the healthcare system in this country, using millions of Americans as pawns in a cynical game.”
Schumer added Trump is playing a “dangerous game” by refusing to give “certainty” to insurance companies.
The comments came after Trump tweeted lawmakers “let down” voters by not supporting the push the BCRA. Hours later, Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced their opposition to a clean repeal bill, to which Trump said that it’s time to “let Obamacare fail.”
“I think we’re probably in that position where we’ll just let Obamacare fail,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon. “We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it.”
Schumer also reiterated his call for Republicans to work with Democrats to improve the ACA and not to “sabotage” the healthcare system.
