Less than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to halt government payments that subsidize insurance plans for low-income Americans, Senate leaders agreed "in principle" to a bill that would cover the payments for two years.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee announced Tuesday that he reached an agreement with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the committee's ranking member. The senators each made brief presentations on the deal at lunches with their respective parties.
According to one source with knowledge of the bill, the agreement contains $160 million to restore outreach and enrollment funding for the Affordable Care Act.
Trump commented on the prospect of a deal on the payments during a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Tuesday afternoon, claiming that the White House has been involved in negotiations, but called it a "short-term solution."
"It will get us over this intermediate hump," said Trump, who continued by claiming that Republicans "have" or "are very close to having" the votes to eventually pass their long-held goal of a comprehensive reform bill.
I actually think that last part is becoming less true everyday as the American people become more and more concerned at what will happen if the Republicans actually succeed in repealing Obamacare.
And speaking of Obamacare it seems a little odd to hear that the White House has been involved in this deal. Especially considering what Trump said just the other day.
Well apparently there IS still such a thing as Obamacare, and it appears that the Republicans are becoming more and more afraid of touching it.President Trump: “Obamacare is finished. It's dead. It’s gone …. There is no such thing as Obamacare any more” https://t.co/CLbWiYUkSp— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 16, 2017
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