The only way for healthcare reform to pass Congress is to bring Democrats into the process and make a real effort at bipartisanship, Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., said Monday.
"We need a durable, sustainable bill that will pass in a bipartisan manner," Dent told CNN's "New Day." "And everyone knows that."
"If we can't get the basics of governing right, the blocking and tackling," of getting through appropriations bills and other necessary legislation, "it will be all that much harder to get healthcare and tax reform done."
Even if House Republicans eventually manage to pass something without bipartisan support, it will not get through the Senate, because there will not be eight Democrats willing to support such a GOP bill there, he explained.
"This is a democracy; we're a Republic," Dent said. "Outside of reconciliation, to get anything through the Senate, you need 60 votes, and that includes a bathroom break."
Dent, the co-chair of the moderate Tuesday Group, said President Donald Trump conceded too much to the conservative Freedom Caucus in an attempt to gain their support and instead lost the backing of some moderate Republicans who were upset by the changes in the bill, without even convincing enough conservatives to change their mind in any case.
Dent bemoaned bickering within the GOP between moderates and conservatives was "the very issue that drove John Boehner from the speaker's job, and the underlying dynamics are still an issue today."
Dent said if he was advising the White House, he would suggest the president "pivot to infrastructure," because it has broader bipartisan support and is the best chance for deal-making."
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