Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday pledged that he and President Donald Trump remained committed to the Republican healthcare plan and demanded that senators "step up to the plate after seven years and vote to repeal and replace Obamacare."
"Republicans know inaction is not an option," Pence told the Ohio Republican Party Dinner at The Ohio State University in Columbus. "America needs to be delivered from Obamacare.
"Congress needs to act to repeal and replace Obamacare – and they need to do it now."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will reportedly schedule a procedural vote for Tuesday to begin floor debate on a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act outright and develop a replacement over two years.
The move is expected to come despite three moderate Republicans saying they would not vote for a complete repeal without a replacement.
In Ohio, Pence acknowledged that vote but called on senators to go back to their original proposal.
"The Senate healthcare bill, we believe, is the right bill at the right time to begin to repeal and replace Obamacare," he said.
"The bill being considered in the Senate today, the Senate healthcare bill, puts America back on a path to better more affordable healthcare for all Americans."
He praised Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's role in the legislation, particularly in ensuring sufficient funding to combat the state's opioid crisis – and the vice president said that Republicans should vote out Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown next year.
"Could you do America a favor?" the vice president asked. "Let's retire Sen. Brown in 2018 and give Ohio two great Republican senators.
"The Democrats who gave us the failed policies of Obamacare – won't any one of them lift a finger to help the American people out of the burden.
"But Republicans have soldiered on to keep their promise to the American people."
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