WASHINGTON — From both sides of the Atlantic, President Donald Trump and other administration officials lobbied Republicans Friday to support the Senate GOP's reworked health care bill, with the president saying wavering senators "must come through" to keep the measure from collapsing.
But the bill, repealing much of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, hovered near failure as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell strained to keep more Republicans from deserting. Complicating the effort, Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich called the revised measure "still unacceptable," largely because of its cuts to Medicaid, the same concern that's been voiced by Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, one of the holdouts.
McConnell, R-Ky., released the measure Thursday, a plan that caps seven years of his party's promises to obliterate Obama's 2010 law.
But two GOP senators immediately said they'd vote "no" on a crucial vote planned for next week. Facing uniform Democratic opposition, a third Republican defection would sink it — a reality not lost on Trump.
"After all of these years of suffering thru ObamaCare, Republican Senators must come through as they have promised!" the president tweeted from Paris, where he was attending Bastille Day ceremonies.
Also under pressure, indirectly, was Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who opposed McConnell's initial bill last month, also citing its Medicaid reductions. Heller, who faces a tough re-election next year, has stood arm-in-arm with his state's popular GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval in opposing cuts to that program for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.