After Donald Trump admitted on Saturday that he called Sen. Chuck Schumer on Friday to see if he’d help him repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Democratic leader quickly shot back.
In a statement, Schumer told the president that Obamacare repeal is “off the table” and he should join other Republicans who are working with Democrats to improve the existing law.
Schumer’s statement on the reported phone call between him and the president:
.@SenSchumer on his call with Pres. Trump re: health care yesterday: pic.twitter.com/4Abf1NEBKK
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— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) October 7, 2017
Schumer’s response came after Trump shot out a tweet on Saturday morning, repeating the claim that the Affordable Care Act “is badly broken,” even though many of its current troubles are occurring as a result of this White House refusing to responsibly implement the law.
The president’s tweet:
I called Chuck Schumer yesterday to see if the Dems want to do a great HealthCare Bill. ObamaCare is badly broken, big premiums. Who knows!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017
At the end of the day, Trump is still clinging to the idea that he will be able to repeal the Affordable Care Act – something he has repeatedly failed to do, even with complete GOP control of the government – but it appears everybody else in Congress has moved on to the acceptance phase of this process.
As Schumer said on Saturday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander are currently in the process of working together to stabilize the ACA insurance markets that Trump has tried to sabotage since taking office. If the president cares about helping people, that’s the effort he should get behind.
Obamacare isn’t going anywhere. Instead of begging Democrats to help him achieve a disastrous political goal, Trump should join them in improving the law.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.