YOUNGSTOWN – Celebrating a slim but symbolic health-care win in Washington, President Donald Trump told supporters in Ohio that the nation was one step closer to liberation from the “Obamacare nightmare.”
“You think that’s easy? That’s not easy,” he told a crowd of thousands just hours after the Senate took a small but hard-fought first step Tuesday toward Republicans’ years-long promise to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Late Tuesday, the Senate voted 57-43 to block a wide-ranging proposal by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell replacing Obama’s law with a far more restrictive GOP substitute. Those voting no included nine Republicans.
That roll call raised questions about what splintered Republicans can achieve in terms of reshaping Obama’s law.
Senators planned to vote Wednesday on a Republican amendment repealing much of President Barack Obama’s law and giving Congress two years to concoct a replacement.
As did all Democrats, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown voted against the measure, opposing the plan to eliminate funding Medicaid expansion and saying that the Republicans proposals “would charge Ohioans between the ages of 50 and 65 up to five times as much for coverage and allow insurance companies to once again discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions.”
Republican Rob Portman, who has opposed the House version of the bill to dismantle Obamacare, voted with his party’s leadership after they agreed to add an amendment of his providing an additional $100 billion to help people transition from Medicaid expansion to private insurance.
Clearly energized to be back in front of a friendly crowd of supporters, Trump said repeatedly that he believes in speaking directly to the American people and not through the “fake news” media. And he joked about accusations that he doesn’t act presidential.
“It’s so easy to act presidential,” he said. “But that’s not going to get it done.”