House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says congressional Republicans won’t repeal Obamacare because they don’t have the votes and have not come up with a sufficient replacement plan.
“They won’t be able to do that,” the California Democrat said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “How can they do it? They don’t have the votes.”
Ms. Pelosi said Republicans have been “baying at the moon for seven years” about repealing the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, but have failed to put forward a substitute since taking power.
“They’ve been baying at the moon that they had a better idea,” she said. “They’ve come up with nothing.”
Ms. Pelosi said Democrats don’t have a duty to work with Republicans on replacing the law unless the new plan meets certain standards.
“If they come up with something that keeps lower costs, expanding coverage and increasing benefits, then we can have something to talk about,” the Democratic leader said. “But we haven’t seen anything to talk to them yet in any category.”
Responding to the minority leader’s comments on Sunday, the White House said Ms. Pelosi’s advocacy for a health care plan that lowers costs and expands coverage is exactly “why Obamacare must be repealed and replaced.”
”Nancy Pelosi is right in arguing that our health care system faces challenges, but she is wrong to suggest that ObamaCare has delivered real solutions,” White House deputy communications director Raj Shah said in a statement.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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