Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday predicted that more changes to House Republicans’ bill repealing parts of Obamacare are in store in the next 24 hours but said he thinks the underlying measure will ultimately pass.
“There’s going to be additional changes, I expect, in the next 24 hours to improve this bill with common sense, conservative principles,” Mr. Pence told radio host John Fredericks.
He said President Trump “is not going to rest” “until Obamacare is a thing of the past and we’ve launched a whole new era of health care reform based on free market principles and state-based reform.”
“I believe we will” get the necessary votes, Mr. Pence said, also saying it’s not the end of the process.
Mr. Pence said multiple times that he wanted to give credit to conservatives who have expressed reservations, saying he’s “grateful” that they have improved the bill.
“I give great, great credit to these principled conservatives fighting for everything that we can do in this first bill,” he said.
Those comments stood in contrast to Rep. Chris Collins’ saying earlier on the program that all the conservatives who would have torpedoed the bill will get challenged in GOP primaries and lose.
Mr. Pence’s appearance was one of several Wednesday morning radio interviews he did as the administration and House Republicans go all-out to round up votes ahead of an expected floor vote on Thursday.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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