WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the Affordable Care Act (all times local):
3:05 p.m.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’s told President Donald Trump that the Senate will not be taking up a rewrite of the nation’s health care laws now that Democrats control the House.
The Kentucky Republican told reporters Tuesday that he delivered that news to Trump a day earlier. Asked whether there were differences between him and the president, McConnell answered: “Not any longer.”
McConnell said, “I made it clear to him that we were not going to be doing that in the Senate,” adding later, “So we don’t have a misunderstanding about that, we’ll not be doing comprehensive (reform) in the Senate.”
Trump last week surprised many Republicans by saying the party will take up health care. Republicans repeatedly tried and failed to overturn President Barack Obama’s signature law.
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2:55 p.m.
President Donald Trump is back to promising a “great health care package” to replace the Affordable Care Act.
This time, he’s emphasizing that it will come after the 2020 election.
Trump unexpectedly pivoted to the health care issue last week and claimed the GOP would be the party of health care. He listed a handful of GOP senators who would help craft the Republican health care proposal.
On Tuesday, he said, “I wanted to put it after the election because we don’t have the House.”
Trump spoke to reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NATO’s secretary general.
The issue of health care, especially protections for people with pre-existing conditions, resonates with voters and helped Democrats in the November elections. Trump is predicting that Republicans will take back the House and keep the Senate in 2020.
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1:50 p.m.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says President Donald Trump’s pull back from producing a health care overhaul plan until after the election means he will “hold Americans hostage through 2020” on an issue that affects millions of people.
The New York Democrat says that when Trump “insists he has a magic plan that we can see if only the American people re-elect him,” it isn’t true.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California says Democrats’ health care battle with Trump is “a values fight.”
Democrats have introduced non-binding legislation telling the administration to halt its effort in federal courts to have President Barack Obama’s health care law declared unconstitutional.
Schumer and Pelosi spoke in front of the Supreme Court and were joined by two dozen Democratic lawmakers.
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7:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump is suggesting he will defer until after 2020 his push for a Republican health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Trump tweeted late Monday that Congress will vote on a GOP plan after the elections, “when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House.”
Republicans were cool after Trump surprised them last week with an unexpected pivot to the issue and claims the GOP will be the party of health care. Republicans lost control of the House partly because of the health care issue, and they don’t yet have a comprehensive plan to replace the law known as “Obamacare.”
In tweets, Trump claimed Republicans are developing a plan with cheaper premiums and deductibles that “will be truly great HealthCare that will work for America.”
