With negotiations having appeared to hit an impasse, President Donald Trump used Twitter on Monday morning to try to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to pass a healthcare bill.
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TRUMP: There's no way Congress 'would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill'
President Donald Trump used Twitter on Monday morning to try to pressure Republican lawmakers into passing a healthcare bill before the monthlong August recess.
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"I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!" Trump tweeted.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is facing opposition from both sides of his conference over his draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act.
Conservative members, like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, believe the bill does not go far enough in its repeal of the Affordable Care Act and are pushing for more regulatory rollbacks. Moderate members, like Susan Collins and Dean Heller, believe the bill goes too far with cuts to Medicaid and with other regulatory changes.
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Even members whom leadership traditionally relies on like Jerry Moran and John Hoeven also expressed doubts about the current form of the BCRA over the past week.
Over this disagreement looms the monthlong August recess, which McConnell has declared is the unofficial deadline for getting the BCRA passed. After that, McConnell warned, Republicans would have to work with Democrats on a short-term stabilization bill for the individual insurance market.
Because of the stalled out negotiations, 10 GOP senators sent a letter asking McConnell to delay the start of the August recess so Republicans could work on their agenda, including the BCRA.
The Trump administration also favors delaying the recess until a bill is done, as evidenced by Trump's tweet and by the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who told "Fox News Sunday" that a bill needed to get done.
"Whether it'd be before August recess or during August recess, the president expects the Senate to fulfill the promises it made to the American people," Priebus said.
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