Sen. Tom Cotton Thursday attacked the speed with which Republicans are moving on their legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, saying that "there is no urgency."
"There is no deadline," the Arkansas Republican told Jake Tapper on CNN. "We need to get healthcare reform right. We don't have to get it fast.
"What we need to deliver on is the promise that we would make healthcare more affordable for Americans," he added. "We would make it accessible. And we would cut down on the stress and the anxiety that healthcare causes for Americans.
"Unfortunately, the House legislation is not going to achieve those results — and the break-neck speed at which it's moving is designed to actually make those results probably worse.
"We just need to take a pause and to deliberate more carefully and more openly and get to a result that is actually going to make healthcare more affordable and more hassle-free for Americans," Cotton said.
House Republican leaders have moved quickly since their healthcare plan was introduced late Monday, with the legislation being marked up in committee on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump, who praised the bill on Tuesday, said on Twitter Thursday that "healthcare is coming along great" and that "it will end in a beautiful picture."
Conservative Republicans have attacked the bill — and other versions have been introduced in both the House and the Senate.
Democrats immediately slammed the proposal, with Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana likening recalcitrant party members with siding with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
"I'm with the American people and the promises I made to Americans," Cotton told Tapper. "We're going to reduce the cost of healthcare and give them more control over their healthcare choices.
"There are a lot of Republicans saying these exact same things in private. Frankly, some of Steve Scalise's whip team are saying the same thing.
"I'm saying in public what many Republicans are voicing."
The current legislation, Cotton said, "probably cannot pass the Senate," and it "would not solve the problems of our healthcare system.
"Problems that Obamacare made worse.
"The American people care much more that we solve those problems than that we meet some kind of arbitrary legislative deadline."
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