Sen. Bob Corker on Tuesday said Senate Republicans have not started working on a replacement plan for Obamacare, The Huffington Post reported.
"To be honest, there's not any real discussion taking place right now," Corker told reporters.
"At the retreat, which y'all unfortunately were able to listen to every word of . . . we had breakout sessions where it was just the Senate talking about it, and you would have heard more of the same," Corker said about the Republican retreat in Philadelphia where an audio recording of lawmakers expressing concerns about a legitimate Obamacare replacement was leaked to the media. "But the fact is we're gonna end up covering people, and we're gonna end up granting flexibilities, but there's gonna be a cost associated with it."
President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act immediately, but in an interview Sunday with Bill O’Reilly said a replacement likely was not coming until 2018.
That puts the GOP in a pickle as the party has already started the process of repealing the ACA in Congress.
Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, a vocal Obamacare opponent, have come under fire lately for not having a replacement plan constructed.
Asked Tuesday when a plan would be crafted, Corker said he had "no idea."
"I'm not on a committee that deals with this . . . but I don't see any congealing around ideas yet," Corker said. "And I think it's fine that we take our time. I thought the The Wall Street Journal editorial [Tuesday] was dead on. I mean, we're dealing with something that is very important, very complicated.
"It's explosive if not handled properly, and we should take our time and do it right."
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