Trump Reportedly Backs More Funding for 'Dead' Obamacare

President Donald Trump on Tuesday called Obamacare “dead” and a “disgrace to our nation” but seems open to signing off on more funding for the 2010 health care law.

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“Obamacare is virtually dead. At best, you could say it’s in its final legs. The premiums are going through the roof. The deductibles are so high that people don’t get to use it. Obamacare is a disgrace to our nation,” Trump said Tuesday during a meeting with the Greek prime minister.

Literally minutes later, news broke that Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray had reached a bipartisan deal to continue Cost Reduction Subsidies (CSRs) for Obamacare. According to a Politico report, Trump supports the deal.

Trump issued an executive order just last week cutting off the CSRs, saying that they were illegal. Obamacare supporters criticized the president’s move to slash the CSR funding since the component is critical to the survival of Obama’s signature domestic achievement.

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It remains unclear if there are enough votes in the House and Senate to pass any legislation resulting from the Alexander-Murray agreement. Republican senators have expressed more willingness to come up with a bipartisan solution on health care than Republicans in the House.

Should legislation resulting from today’s agreement reach Trump’s desk, he is likely to sign it.

That could present a problem to Trump in 2020, given that one of his core promises in the 2016 presidential election was “repeal and replace” Obamacare, which he called a “disgrace to our nation.” As Red State’s Joe Cunningham pointed out earlier, Tuesday’s agreement is far cry from repeal. If anything, the deal would only prop up Obamacare, keeping the law in place longer.

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