Senate Republicans left for their 10-day July 4 recess on Thursday night without a politically viable health-care plan, and it is unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be able to entice, persuade, or cajole at least 50 Republicans of his 52-member caucus to pass a health-care bill before his new deadline of mid-July, or perhaps early August. On Twitter Friday morning, President Trump jumped in with some advice: "If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!"
This was the original Republican plan, but they abandoned it earlier this year after deciding it was politically untenable. Trump was a significant player in the House GOP push to pass their health-care bill, but Senate Republicans have been mostly keeping him at arm's length, more or less openly saying they do not believe Trump understands even the basics of health-care policy.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Democrats’ strategy to woo voters for 2026: religionThe Explainer Politicians like Rob Sand and James Talarico have made a name for themselves pushing their faith
-
Pregnancy in AmericaFeature Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
-
The potential warning sign of an auto lender’s bankruptcyIn the Spotlight Tricolor collapse an ‘extreme example’ of economy’s challenges
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
