Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and close ally of the president, touted President Trump’s call to overhaul Obamacare, which he made in a Truth Social post earlier Saturday. Graham said Republicans will not vote to extend health care tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re not going to extend this program for a year because that would be unfair to the taxpayer. That would continue a health care system that’s out of control,” Graham said on the Senate floor. “It would enrich health insurance companies even more. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer to meet the goal of lowering health care costs.”
Graham said “terrorizing the public is not going to get us, as Republicans, to continue a very bad health care bill,” though he added Republicans and the president are willing to talk with Democrats “about how getting better value is possible, how lower premiums [are] possible.”
“But you’ve got to change the fundamental precept of Obamacare,” he said.
The South Carolina Republican congratulated the president for getting “into the game today,” saying “he’s given us a pathway forward. I am going to heed his advice and counsel.”
Graham said he spoke with the president this morning. He said Mr. Trump would “like to sit down and see if we can come up with a better solution.”
“I know we can, but we’re not going to do it while the government’s shut down,” he said.
Graham urged Democrats to “end this madness.”
“To my Democratic colleagues, let’s open up the government and act like adults and see if we can get this problem in a better spot,” he said. “We’ll never do it with the government shut down.”
