WASHINGTON — Republicans will work on unraveling and replacing the health care law at the same time, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday.
Ryan, R-Wis., spoke to reporters amid growing concern among Republican lawmakers about erasing President Barack Obama's overhaul — which expanded coverage to 20 million people — without having an alternative to show voters. Republicans have been divided for years over how to replace the statute, and the process of crafting replacement legislation they can unify behind is likely to take months or longer.
"It is our goal to bring it all together concurrently," Ryan said.
"We will pass as much as we can" initially, Ryan said. He said Republicans would then produce a second bill to "show you the full scope of what a real replacement effort looks like."
President-elect Donald Trump has said he supports erasing Obama's law and replacing it simultaneously. Congressional leaders had said in recent weeks that they would quickly repeal the statute and with a delayed effective date, and then work on replacing it.
According to Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., Ryan told Republicans on Tuesday that "he had a conversation yesterday with Donald Trump, and they're on the same page."
Both of Congress' top Republicans used a similar phrase Tuesday.
"For people across the country, repeal means relief," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor.
And at a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Ryan told House Republicans, "Repeal is relief," according to Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.