Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’s waiting to hear if President Trump will support a proposed bipartisan healthcare fix before bringing the measure up for a vote.
The plan to fix parts of the Affordable Care Act and stabilize health insurance markets is backed by 12 Republican and 48 Democratic senators. It would reinstate federal payments to insurers that Trump cut off this month, offering millions of Americans some relief from rising premiums and shaky insurance markets. It would also give states some new flexibility to offer cheaper, less generous health plans.
“If there is a need for some kind of interim step here to stabilize the market, we need a bill the president will actually sign,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And I’m not certain yet what the president is looking for here, but I’ll be happy to bring a bill to the floor if I know President Trump would sign it.”
Trump has given conflicting signals on whether he will support the compromise worked out by Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, and the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the plan, with the support of 60 senators, should be brought up immediately. “We should pass it and pass it now,” Schumer said.