Trump: Senate GOP ‘very close’ to agreement on health bill

by Jordan Fabian - 06/27/17 4:40 PM ET

President Trump said Tuesday afternoon that Senate Republicans are getting “very close” to passing their embattled plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, but added that if it fails, “that’s OK.”

“I think the Senate bill is going to be great,” Trump said during a photo-op ahead of a meeting with nearly every Republican senator at the White House. “So we’re going to talk and we’re going to see what we can do. But we’re getting very close.”

Trump, however, conceded that the legislation has a chance of dying in the Senate.

“This will be great if we get it done, and if we don’t get it done, it’s just going to be something that we’re not going to like and that’s OK and I understand that very well,” he continued. “But I think we have a chance to do something very, very important for the public, very, very important for the people of our country that we love.”

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The meeting was called in order to salvage the GOP healthcare bill, which faces growing opposition from rank-and-file Republicans.

It comes hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he would delay a vote on the ObamaCare overhaul until after the July 4 holiday recess.

McConnell pushed back the vote after five Senate Republicans said they would not support a procedural vote to begin debate on the legislation this week after a Congressional Budget Office analysis showed the plan would result in 22 million more people becoming uninsured.

With Democrats united in opposition to the plan, GOP leaders can only afford two defections and still advance it.

Lawmakers are expected to face a torrent of lobbying from their constituents and outside groups in their home states during the recess.

Trump tried to rally the troops to remain on board by holding a rare working session in the East Room. He sat at a long table between Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), two key centrist GOP holdouts.

“So we’re going to talk and we’re going to see what we can do,” Trump said. “But for the country, we have to have healthcare. And it can’t be ObamaCare, which is melting down.”

“For the country, we have to have healthcare. And it can’t be ObamaCare, which is melting down,” Trump said.

In an apparent shot at Democrats, Trump said that “the other side is saying all sorts of things before they knew what the bill was.”

Updated: 5:18 p.m.

Tags Lisa Murkowski Mitch McConnell Susan Collins