President Donald Trump said he is aiming to push through healthcare legislation first and use the "hundreds of millions" in expected savings from Obamacare taxes for tax reform and cuts.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo that will air Wednesday at 6 a.m. on the Fox Business Network, the president said he is not setting a firm deadline.
"I don't want to put any deadlines," he said in a clip from the interview released Tuesday.
"Healthcare is going to happen at some point. If it doesn't happen fast enough, I'll start taxes, but they are better if I can do healthcare first," he said.
He then explained why he wants to finally tackle an issue that already proved too contentious to pass in his two months in office.
"I have to do healthcare first," he said. "We want to do it first to really do it right."
Trump said he agrees tax reform would have a significant impact, "but because I am saving a tremendous amount – hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars we're saving on healthcare.
"So we're going to have a much better plan than Obamacare, which is failing. . . . We're saving tremendous amounts of money on healthcare, when we get this done. No. 1, most importantly, we are going to have great healthcare. All that saving goes into the taxes."
The president also will talk about the Syria airstrikes, the state of the U.S.-Russia relationship, new Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, his meeting with China's president, and his tough talk on North Korea, Fox News reported.