MOMENTS AGO: @POTUS meets with GOP committee on healthcare plan. pic.twitter.com/F2tNdvTeas
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 17, 2017
President Trump on Friday declared his “100 percent” commitment to the House GOP’s ObamaCare replacement plan, adding, “ObamaCare is dead.”
“I want people to know ObamaCare is dead; it’s a dead healthcare plan,” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with conservative lawmakers.
“Only because everyone knows it’s on its last, dying feet, the fake news is trying to say good things about it, the fake media. There is no good news about ObamaCare. ObamaCare is dead.”
The administration reported this week that 12.2 million people enrolled in ObamaCare plans for 2017, a slight drop from the 12.7 million people who enrolled the previous year.
Trump met with members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) at the White House on Friday as the administration seeks to drum up support for the House’s ObamaCare repeal bill.
During the meeting, Trump said he successfully wooed the 13 RSC members to support the bill.
“I want to let the world know: I am 100 percent in favor,” Trump said.
“These folks were no’s, mostly no’s, yesterday, and now every single one is a yes.”
GOP sources said the White House won the support of the RSC members by agreeing to give states the option to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients and the option to block grant Medicaid instead of the cap system in the bill.
Trump said the White House agreed to make “certain changes” to the bill to help get the lawmakers on board, but did not elaborate.
The president and House GOP leadership are seeking to guide the American Health Care Act through the chamber despite concerns from moderate Republicans as well as the party’s conservative flank.
The GOP healthcare plan has faced a rocky road since it was released, as moderate Republicans worry about its cuts to Medicaid, while more conservative Republicans don’t believe the legislation goes far enough.
The White House said earlier this week that it and House leadership are working on a manager’s amendment, which would add changes to the bill before the floor vote in the House.
— Updated at 11:29 a.m.