President Trump on Tuesday encouraged House Republicans to step up their sales pitch to voters, promoting their achievements over the last year. He also urged them to try to take ownership of an issue that has long been an area of Democratic strength: “On healthcare, it’s never been our issue,” Trump said. “It should be our issue.”
As part of that push, Trump called for Republicans to be flexible on what’s known as the Hyde Amendment, a long-standing ban on federal dollars being used to pay for abortions. GOP demands around that issue have been an obstacle to renewing the Obamacare subsidies. “You have to be a little flexible on Hyde,” Trump said. “You know that. You gotta be a little flexible. You got to work something. You got to use ingenuity. You got to work.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly acknowledged Tuesday that the Hyde Amendment issue is “probably the most challenging part” of reaching a deal on a healthcare bill. And conservative Republicans were quick to push back on Trump’s suggestion.
Trump works his ‘weave’: In meandering remarks that stretched for nearly 90 minutes, Trump tried to rally Republicans ahead of the midterm elections later this year but offered little in the way of new policies for them to pursue. He touted the raid he authorized to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, defended his immigration and tariff policies, attacked Democrats and the news media, decried “men playing in women’s sports,” again tried to revise the history of the January 6 insurrection and repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. And that was just the first half of the speech.
“You guys gotta get elected, because if you don’t get elected, we have a country that’s going to go to hell, so we can’t play games,” Trump said, later warning that if Republicans lose, Democrats would “find a reason to impeach me.”
Trump urged Republicans to focus their pitch to voters on his efforts to lower prescription drug costs via a policy that demands manufacturers offer the United States “most favored nation” pricing linked to the lower prices paid by similar countries.
Trump told GOP lawmakers that they should be able to win the elections based on that and the successes of his first year in office. “You have so much ammunition. All you have to do is sell it,” he said.
Trump acknowledged that he had found the healthcare issue “not of tremendous interest,” but said he knows how important it is and insisted that he has learned a lot about it. He reiterated his push for Affordable Care Act reforms that would send funding directly to consumers instead of insurance companies.
What’s next: Trump said he will be meeting with insurance companies soon to press them to lower costs. The House, meanwhile, is set to vote on extending the expired insurance subsidies this week, and Thune told reporters that there’s “potentially a path forward” to a bipartisan Senate deal on the Affordable Care Act subsidies.
A group of Republican and Democratic senators continues to discuss a possible deal that would renew the lapsed ACA subsidies for two years and introduce new reforms, including income limits and minimum premium payments. That plan reportedly would also involve a phase-in of cost-sharing reductions, and Republicans are reportedly demanding an expansion of health savings accounts as part of the agreement. “Ultimately, if there’s a deal to be made, it’s getting made very soon or not at all,” Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, a key negotiator, told reporters Monday.