President Trump said Wednesday that he views himself as an “arbitrator” in the GOP’s internal debate over how lawmakers should repeal and replace Obamacare, telling Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that he doesn’t expect to see a single Democrat support the Republican reform plan.
“I’m, in a little way, I’m an arbitrator. We have the conservatives, we have the more liberal side of the Republican Party, we have the left, we have the right within the Republicans themselves, we got a lot of fighting going on,” Trump said in an interview with Carlson. “We have no Democrats. Again, no matter what we do, we’re never going to get a Democrat. Maybe we’ll get one along the way.”
The American Health Care Act — a repeal and replace bill introduced by House Speaker Paul Ryan last week and backed by Trump — is currently facing an uncertain fate thanks to opposition by conservative lawmakers who fear the legislation won’t do enough to strip away Obamacare.
“I think we’re going to have negotiation,” Trump said of the bill’s future.
The president suggested congressional leadership could approach the Obamacare debate differently if Republicans had more seats in the Senate. The GOP presently holds 52 seats in the upper chamber, giving them a slim margin for error when attempting to pass the AHCA through budget reconcilation.
“If we had 60 votes, perhaps we’d do it a different way,” Trump said. “But the only way you’re going to get it passed is with Republican votes, because the Democrats — no matter how bad Obamacare is, and it’s the worst anybody’s ever seen, it’s a disaster.”
“If I had the greatest bill in the history of the world, they would not vote for us,” Trump said. “Because they hate the Republicans … so badly that they can’t see straight.”
