GOP rep: ‘The Senate needs to get to work’ on healthcare

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Monday called on Senate lawmakers to “show some spine” and “get to work” by sending the next version of a healthcare bill that repeals and replaces ObamaCare to the House for a vote. 

“We think the Senate needs to get to work and send the House the bill so we can get this fixed,” Blackburn told host Alisyn Camerota on CNN’s “New Day.”

The Tennessee lawmaker called out Senate lawmakers as the reason a healthcare bill has not been passed, while saying President Trump is working to solve the healthcare problem.

{mosads}“President Trump, I believe, is looking to solve the problem,” she said, adding that senators like to “work in gangs.”

“We’ve had the gang of seven or eight. I want the gang of 51. I want the Senate to show spine and fix this problem,” Blackburn said, referring to the number of upper chamber lawmakers needed to pass a healthcare measure.

Blackburn’s comments come after the Senate’s effort to pass an ObamaCare “skinny” repeal deal collapsed on Friday.

President Trump, in response, had threatened to take away “bailouts for Insurance Companies and bailouts for Members of Congress” very soon if “a new healthcare bill is not approved quickly.”

Blackburn said “all members of Congress are on the Affordable Care Act,” so they fully understand the “problems” with the healthcare system.

“And one of the things we tell people all the time, we know firsthand the problems with healthcare,” Blackburn said.