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Popular vote loser Donald Trump has a problem with the Trumpcare bill he celebrated over in the Rose Garden with House Republicans back at the beginning of May. He's decided it's too "mean," and wants Senate Republicans to just fix that.
President Trump called the House's ObamaCare repeal bill "mean" and said it should be more generous during a meeting with Republican senators Tuesday, according to a Senate GOP aide. […]
It is unclear what effect Trump's comments might have. Senate Republicans were already planning to make the bill more generous, for example by increasing tax credits for low-income people.
In the public section of the meeting, Trump said: “I really appreciate what you're doing to come out with a bill that's going to be a phenomenal bill to the people of our country: generous, kind, with heart. That's what I'm saying."
Also, too:
The president also said Republicans risk getting savaged in the 2018 midterms if they fail to repeal Obamacare after a seven-year campaign against the law.
But he made clear that the Senate needs to pass a bill that Republicans are able to more easily defend and is not viewed as an attack on low-income Americans as the House bill has been portrayed by critics, the sources said. He also advocated for more robust tax credits for people who buy insurance on the individual market, a move that would increase the bill’s cost.
So, yeah. That's easy. Make this bill less mean, but don't spend more, and make sure it gets enough votes, and yeah, do it right now. What's driving this is, of course, bad media coverage. "Trump has told associates that the news media coverage of the House health care bill was 'terrible,' in the words of one associate who has spoken to him." He doesn't like to look bad on his shows.
Trump's new-found concern for the people will probably last as long as this meeting did, and probably won't derail Mitch McConnell's plan to jam this thing through. He wants his repeal. This doesn't mean the danger to the Affordable Care Act goes away, but it makes McConnell's life potentially more complicated. Which is a good thing in and of itself.
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