White House press secretary Sean Spicer said he'd give the Senate Republicans' healthcare plans a high probability of success, given the combined powers of President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to push the legislation through.
"With that combination, I think we will get this thing done, put it in conference, and hopefully by the August recess really have Obamacare repealed and replaced and be on the path to affordable and accessible healthcare, as the president promised," Spicer told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
Health and Human Services Director Tom Price and others with the White House legislative affairs team have been providing their assistance to work with members of the Senate and leadership to talk about additional changes, he continued.
However, even as the plan is now written, the administration feels "we are in a really good place now" for getting the legislation passed, Spicer said.
Former President Barack Obama has spoken out against the Senate GOP's plans, slamming it as a "massive transfer of wealth," but Spicer said the "real meanness" is to let Americans believe Obamacare is alive.
"Obamacare has failed," said Spicer. "County after county are left with no choices, rising premiums skyrocketing deductibles. Obamacare is dead."
It's not fair to compare the Republicans' plans with Obamacare, he continued, because the current law is not doing what it was supposed to do.
"Most people who still have access to it can't afford it," said Spicer. "If you look at the rest of the majority of where the Democrats, especially as the House has done, they have signed onto a trillion dollar, multi-trillion dollar, Bernie Sanders government fits all single-payer healthcare system. That's the alternative way to talk about it."
Also on Friday, Spicer denied Trump was trying to intimidate fired FBI Director James Comey by tweeting to him that there may have been tapes of their conversations in the White House.
"I think the president made it very clear that he wanted the truth to come out," said Spicer. "He wanted to be more honest about this and want to get to the bottom of it.
"The reality is that he wanted to make sure that the truth came out by talking about something on the tape, and made Comey have to think to himself that 'I better be honest, I better tell the truth about circumstances regarding the situation.' As you heard, the president said on the director's watch three times, that turned out to be true."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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