President Trump made calls over the weekend to at least four Senate Republican holdouts on the health care bill, hashing out ways to get them to vote yes, according to the White House.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president wanted to “hear their concerns and get their ideas and understand where they’re at and what needs to get done.”
Senate Republicans can suffer two defections and still pass the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. No Democrats are not expected to vote for it.
The GOP holdouts that Mr. Trump called included Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week. Capitol Hill Republican and the White House have set a deadline for final passage before Congress’ August recess.
The president, who reportedly said the House version of the bill was “mean,” was impressed with the work done by the Senate, said Mr. Spicer.
“He’s very pleased with the developments,” he said, repeating Mr. Trump’s remark that he wants a bill that has “heart.”
“He wants a bill that does what it is supposed to do. If you look at what happened with Obamacare, he wants to make sure we think through this,” said Mr. Spicer. “He will continue to support ways to make the bill stronger.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.