Administration

Trump says he still wants to tackle healthcare before moving to tax reform

by Nikita Vladimirov

President Trump said Tuesday that he still hopes to tackle healthcare before focusing on tax reform. 

“We are going to have a phenomenal tax reform but I have to do healthcare first. I want to do it first to really get it right,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo set to air on Wednesday.

“We are saving tremendous amounts on healthcare when we get this done … and most importantly, actually, we are going to have great healthcare and all of that saving goes into the tax [reform],” he said.

“If you don’t do that you can’t put any of the savings into the tax cuts and the tax reform.”

{mosads}After House GOP leadership’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare failed to gain enough support from within the party, the White House signaled that it would switch focus to tax reform, another major campaign goal.  

Trump also said that Democrats would bear the responsibility for any failures of ObamaCare.
 
“We were very close, it was a very tight margin. We had no Democrat support, no votes from the Democrats,” Trump said in March.
 
“I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer because now they own ObamaCare,” the president added, blasting the Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate, respectively.
 
When asked about the timeline for his policy goals, Trump said that he does not “want to put deadlines” on his plans.
 
“I don’t want to put deadlines. Healthcare is going to happen, at some point. Now, if it does not happen fast enough I’ll start the taxes. But the tax reform and the tax cuts are better if I can do healthcare first,” he said at the time.

Administration