The White House on Sunday indicated it was willing to talk to the opposition Democratic leadership on Obamacare, days after US President Donald Trump suffered a spectacular defeat in repealing the healthcare legislation.
The indication came after Republicans were forced to pull their repeal of Obamacare bill in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives as they failed to get the required support two days ago, even from their own party lawmakers.
It would be nice to get the Democrats on board... Democrats can come to the table as well, and if you look at what the president said in the Oval Office just after that comment, he said, you know, ‘Perhaps it’s time for us to start talking to some moderate Democrats as well and come up with, you know, a bipartisan solution’White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told Fox News.
He added, “The president has also said that when Obamacare does ultimately explode, which it will, we are going to be prepared to lead again and if Democrats come on board with a plan down the road, we will welcome that".
On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, who had been leading the effort, failed to garner the 215 votes needed for the passage of the new bill that would have replaced Obamacare
Trump Blames Republican for Failure of Healthcare Bill
This failure of the passage of the bill led to Trump blaming Republican lawmakers from the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus on Sunday. In a tweet he said:
The bill failed to move forward, in part, because of objections of about 30 lawmakers with the Freedom Caucus.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office earlier on Friday, Trump had sought to deflect blame onto the Democrats.
"We were very close, it was a very tight margin. We had no Democrat support, no votes from the Democrats," he said. "I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer because now they own Obamacare."
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)