President Donald Trump was busy early Saturday morning, tweeting his response to senators who came out against the Graham-Cassidy proposal on Friday.
The Graham-Cassidy proposal would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual and employer mandates for health insurance. It would also keep most of the law’s tax increases but shift them into block grants for individual states that could choose how they wished to use the money. It would also decrease funding for Medicaid in the future.
Arizona Sen. John McCain and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul have come out against the bill and said they won’t vote for it, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski also seems to be against the proposal.
Some senators, such as McCain, said they didn’t support the bill because it has not yet been scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan group that “scores” bills to give lawmakers an idea of the impact they might have. Paul, though, doesn’t like it because he believes the bill doesn’t go far enough in repealing the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
No one is more opposed to Obamacare than I am, and I’ve voted multiple times for repeal. The current bill isn’t repeal.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 22, 2017
Trump—who tweeted his support of the bill—did not have positive things to say about the senators who oppose Graham-Cassidy.
John McCain never had any intention of voting for this Bill, which his Governor loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
Arizona had a 116% increase in ObamaCare premiums last year, with deductibles very high. Chuck Schumer sold John McCain a bill of goods. Sad
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
Large Block Grants to States is a good thing to do. Better control & management. Great for Arizona. McCain let his best friend L.G. down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
Alaska had a 200% plus increase in premiums under ObamaCare, worst in the country. Deductibles high, people angry! Lisa M comes through.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
I know Rand Paul and I think he may find a way to get there for the good of the Party!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
McCain has not yet responded to Trump’s tweets. McCain did, however, tweet his own statement about healthcare reform. He said he would not vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal because it was not a bipartisan effort fully vetted by the Senate.
I cannot in good conscience vote for Graham-Cassidy. A bill impacting so many lives deserves a bipartisan approach. https://t.co/2sDjhw6Era pic.twitter.com/30OWezQpLg
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) September 22, 2017
At press time, Murkowski and Paul had not yet responded to Trump’s tweets.
