WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans insisted Monday that they’re moving ahead on their effort to void the health care law, even as President Donald Trump’s latest remarks conceded that the effort could well stretch into next year.
“Maybe it will take till sometime into next year, but we are certainly going to be in the process,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that was broadcast Sunday. While saying he expected something “fairly soon,” he added, “I would like to say by the end of the year, at least the rudiments. But we should have something within the year and the following year.”
The comments come as congressional Republicans continue trying to deliver on a promise they’ve been making for years: that they will repeal President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care overhaul and replace it with an alternative.
They also come as constituents supporting Obama’s law have made life uncomfortable back home for some Republican lawmakers. Reps. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., faced pointed questions from voters in recent days in scenes reminiscent of 2009, when tea party voters confronted congressional Democrats at town hall meetings.
A House health subcommittee planned Tuesday votes on a pair of minor bills making it harder for people to avoid counting some forms of income — including lottery winnings — used to determine if they qualify for Medicaid, the health program for low-income people.
Republicans pushed back Monday against the notion that their work was slowing.
“Republicans are acting with urgency to repeal Obamacare and replace it,” House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office said in a written statement.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he thinks Congress will enact legislation this year, though it would take a couple of years for the new law to be implemented. He’s co-sponsor of a bill that would pare down the coverage provided by Obama’s law or let the states decide to keep it intact.
“I think we’re on track,” he said in a brief interview.
Republicans have called health care their top priority and Ryan, R-Wis., set the end of March as a target for passing an initial bill repealing and replacing parts of the statute. Trump said in January that the measure was nearly finished and would be ready “soon.”
But the GOP has yet to unite behind an alternative. And some Republicans have begun using the less threatening term “repair” to describe their goal.
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