House GOP leaders said Tuesday they still intend to undo President Barack Obama’s health care law, despite the failure of their initial attempt last week and signals that the White House is moving on to other priorities.
“We are going to work together and listen together until we get this right,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday following a GOP conference meeting.
Ryan declined to specify a timeline for the next Obamacare-targeting effort in the House, where lawmakers are also expected to turn to other stated priorities for the Trump administration, including tax reform and an infrastructure package.
Congress additionally has to pass a funding measure by April 28 to avoid a government shutdown.
“We’re not going to just all of a sudden abandon health care and move on to the rest,” Ryan told donors in a call Monday, according to The Washington Post. “We are going to move on with the rest of our agenda, keep that on track, while we work the health care problem.”
Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus – members of which opposed the Ryan-championed American Health Care Act, leading in large part to it being pulled from the House floor last week – said Tuesday he doesn’t think members should go home for recess until they pass a health care bill.
Following the bill’s failure, Trump said he would wait for Democrats to be willing to work across the aisle on health care reform, repeating his prediction that Obamacare will self-implode.
“The Democrats will make a deal with me on health care as soon as Obamacare folds – not long,” he tweeted Monday. “Do not worry, we are in very good shape!”