CONGRESS

McConnell to Trump: Health care’s all

yours
The Senate majority leader signaled in an interview that he’s more
interested in taking on Democrats than jumping into a divisive debate
within his own party.
By BURGESS EVERETT

03/28/2019 05:46 PM EDT

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Mitch McConnell has no intention
of leading President Donald
Trump’s campaign to transform
the GOP into the “party of health
care.”

“I look forward to seeing what the

president is proposing and what he
can work out with the speaker,”
McConnell said in a brief interview
Thursday, adding, “I am focusing
on stopping the ‘Democrats’
Medicare for none’ scheme.”

The Senate majority leader spent

untold weeks and months on the
party’s health care quagmire in
2017, when the GOP controlled
both the House and the Senate and
still failed to repeal Obamacare.
The episode caused endless
headaches for Republicans as their
replacement plan fell apart first,
followed by the so-called “skinny”
plan they slapped together at the
last minute.

Now in divided government, with

the Senate majority up for grabs
next year and McConnell himself
running for reelection, another
divisive debate over health care is
the last thing McConnell needs.
But that’s exactly where Trump is
taking Republicans after his
administration endorsed a
wholesale obliteration of the law in
the courts earlier this week.

So the Kentucky Republican and

his members are putting the onus
on the president to figure out the
next steps.

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McConnell’s clear reluctance
toward trying to draft a sweeping
health care bill in the Senate
reflects his political instincts: that
it’s better to focus on perceived
Democratic weaknesses — the
left’s push on “Medicare for All” —
than to struggle to unify his own
party on a plan almost certain to
be rebuffed by Senate Democrats
and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.).
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said
he’s eager to move forward on a
new health care debate, but he’s
not detecting the same enthusiasm
in the leadership suites: “I’m not
sensing a whole lot.”

While the GOP leader has

endorsed efforts to protect pre-
existing conditions, McConnell
told his caucus on Wednesday he
will stick to a message of asking
the administration for a plan and
focusing on making Democratic
measures unpopular, according to
attendees.

Soon after, Senate Republicans

from across the caucus adopted a
similar mantra: Let’s see what the
White House proposes.

“The leader is sort of anxious to

see what the president and his
team put forward in terms of a
proposal,” said Sen. John Thune
(R-S.D.), McConnell’s top deputy.
“The good news for us is the
Democrat alternative, the so-called
Medicare for All plan, the
government-run program, is very,
very unpopular.”

Marc Short, a top aide to Vice

President Mike Pence, said
Wednesday on television that the
White House will submit a plan to
Congress. But Republicans
acknowledge that there is
essentially no chance that House
Democrats will want anything to
do with it.

Trump is unbowed.

“The Republican Party will become

the Party of Great HealthCare!”
Trump tweeted on Thursday
afternoon. “Moving forward in
Courts and Legislatively!”

Privately, Republicans have been

baffled all week about the latest
tango with Obamacare, but they’ve
tried their best not to be at odds
with the president’s unwelcome
push.

CONGRESS
‘We need a plan’: GOP shaken by Trump’s health care demands
By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and BURGESS EVERETT
Asked about the prospects of
moving forward with a new vision
for health care as requested by the
president, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-
Kan.) grinned knowingly, but
demurred.

“You can’t quote a smile,” he said.

In fact, simply passing a new

health care bill in the Senate
before the 2020 election appears
nearly impossible. And there may
be no need to, since court action
appears months away.

Neither chamber is moving

forward on a budget that would
allow Republicans to skirt the
Senate filibuster through the
“reconciliation” technique they
used in 2017. And there won’t be
60 votes for a comprehensive plan
because Democrats won’t
cooperate with GOP efforts to
replace Obamacare.

Even introducing sweeping

legislation could be a political
liability for Senate Republicans up
for reelection, who would then be
forced either to endorse or oppose
it. That’s got Republicans
embracing a wait-and-see stance
to test how serious the president
really is about his latest legislative
push.

“We were all a little surprised,

[McConnell] included,” said Sen.
John Cornyn (R-Texas), a close
ally of the majority leader. “We
know that Ms. Pelosi is going to be
a challenge. But it would be even
more problematic if we were
crosswise with the White House.
So that’s why we need to be
coordinating.”
2020 ELECTIONS
Poll: Biden, Bernie, Beto lead Democratic pack
By CARLA MARINUCCI
Still, Trump’s backing of a lawsuit
seeking to dismantle all of
Obamacare and come up with a
new plan has been welcomed by
Republicans who want to promote
their own agenda rather than issue
takedowns of Democrats’ ideas.
And in a new Senate with a
handful of senators who didn’t
experience the debacle of 2017,
some want to start anew.

“I’ve been out there on health care

more aggressively than anyone. …
We need to see what President
Trump means. He’s throwing a lot
of stuff out there,” said freshman
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). He
added: “We need to do something
other than just talk about
repealing it.”

While they wait, some committee

chairmen are beginning work on
targeted health care reforms.

Finance Committee Chairman

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and
Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee Chairman
Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said
whatever they produce on lowering
drug costs and medical bills will
not resemble the effort from two
years ago to craft a wholesale
replacement of the Affordable Care
Act.

But that is likely not going to be

enough for Trump. The question
Republican have now: What is?

“The president’s entitled to his

opinions, so I don’t begrudge him
that,” Cornyn said. “But what they
need to do now is tell us what their
plans are.”