A health-care plan that can pass Congress is 'a fine needle that needs to be threaded,' says Tom Price

A health-care bill that can satisfy both the House and the Senate — plus Republican conservatives and moderates alike — is "a fine needle that needs to be threaded," Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Sunday in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

"As you heard the president say, he's been talking with a lot of the House members, and certainly members of the Senate as well," Price said. "We're working through this process. This is what tough legislation looks like, so it's not unusual to have this give-and-take and this back-and-forth. I'm confident that as we move forward, we'll be able to move all portions of the plan."

Beyond antagonism from congressional Democrats, the Trump administration's plan has GOP opponents in both houses of Congress. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been a leading critic in the Senate, calling the proposal "ObamaCare Lite," and the conservative House Freedom Caucus reiterated on Friday its members will not vote for the current legislation, contra President Trump's claims.

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Price pushed the same message on CNN's State of the Union, pledging that when the plan is complete, "every American will have access to the kind of coverage they want." Watch an excerpt of his comments on ABC below. Bonnie Kristian