WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump resumed his taunts of his party’s Senate leader on Thursday, expressing disbelief that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn’t persuade a Republican majority to pass a health care bill.
“Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” Trump tweeted Thursday.
The president bristled this week after McConnell, R-Ky., told an audience in his home state that Trump had “not been in this line of work before” and had “excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.” Both before and after taking office, Trump spoke repeatedly about passing the massive health care overhaul quickly.
Asked to respond to Trump’s statement, McConnell spokesman David Popp said, “The leader has spoken repeatedly about the path forward regarding Obamacare repeal and replace on the Senate floor, at media availabilities and in Kentucky.”
The Senate rejected repeated attempts by McConnell last month to approve legislation annulling and rewriting much of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Nursing a 52-48 majority, McConnell needed support from 50 GOP senators to prevail because of unanimous Democratic opposition, but there were enough Republican “no” votes on each tally to sink the effort. Vice President Mike Pence would have broken cast a tie-breaking vote.