Trump calls GOP senators who oppose health care bill "good guys" and "friends of mine"
President Trump has an optimistic outlook on the future of the Senate's health care bill on Thursday, calling the four senators who are currently in opposition to the bill "good guys" and "friends of mine."
"Well they're also four good guys and they are four friends of mine – and I think that they'll probably get there, we'll have to see," Mr. Trump said in an from an interview with Fox News' "Fox and Friends" recorded Thursday.
"You know healthcare is a very difficult situation," the president continued. "If you look, the Clintons tried to get it and after years and years and years they couldn't get it. Obamacare was murder for them to get and now it is failed, it is virtually out of business. Obamacare is a disaster, and we are trying to do something in a very short period of time."
Mr. Trump on Thursday night tweeted that he is "very supportive" of the Senate's health care proposal, introduced Thursday morning as a "draft discussion." The four senators who said they cannot support the bill in its current form, but are open to negotiations, are Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Their opposition puts the bill in jeopardy, as the Republicans can only afford to lose two votes for the bill to pass. Cruz and Lee were on the 13-member working group that helped draft the legislation.
"Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor," the four senators said in a Thursday statement. "There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current health care system, but it does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their health care costs."
That puts the Senate in a time crunch because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he wants to vote on the legislation, which was kept secret until Thursday, before the Senate recesses next week for the July 4th holiday.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday said the White House will work with the House and Senate to negotiate the path forward for health care.