McConnell: ObamaCare ‘status quo’ will stay in place moving forward

by Peter Sullivan - 03/28/17 3:00 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that ObamaCare will stay put, sounding resigned to the law continuing even as the House tries to revive repeal efforts.

“It’s pretty obvious we were not able in the House to pass a replacement,” McConnell told reporters. “Our Democratic friends ought to be pretty happy about that because we have the existing law in place and I think we’re just going to have to see how that works out.”

“We believe it will not work out well, but we’ll see. They have an opportunity now to have the status quo go forward, regretfully,” he added.

{mosads}House Republican leaders said this week that they are not giving up on the repeal effort. But the Senate was wary of the previous legislation from the start, and McConnell spoke of the effort in the past tense.

“I want to thank the president and the Speaker, they went all out to try to pass a repeal and replacement,” McConnell said. “I’m sorry that didn’t work, but our Democratic friends now have the law that they wrote in place, and we’ll see how that works out.”

Senate Republican leaders still say that if the House somehow finds a way to pass a repeal and replacement bill, they could consider it. But they are not sounding hopeful.

Asked about the prospects of a healthcare bill, Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 3 Senate Republican, put the burden solely on the House.

“It’s going to be entirely up to them, what they can pass,” he said.

Democrats said they would be happy to work with Republicans on healthcare reform — if they drop their repeal efforts.

“I would say to the Speaker, to Leader McConnell and to the president: Drop repeal. Drop it today and drop it for good. Stop undermining the ACA,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday.

“Once those things are done, we Democrats are more than happy to sit down together and come up with ways to make it better.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pulled his healthcare bill from a scheduled floor vote last Friday after failing to win over enough support from within his own party, particularly from conservatives and moderates. No Democrats planned to vote for the bill.

Tags Chuck Schumer John Thune Mitch McConnell Paul Ryan