Trump Camp tries to do damage control after Johnson was caught being too open about gutting the ACA

The Trump campaign began a dance of cajoling about where the Republican Party really stands on gutting the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Tuesday night after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) acknowledged that Republicans would be tackling “major reform.” continued. Obamacare needs Donald Trump to win the presidency and the GOP to keep the House of Representatives.

In the statement made immediately after NBC News first reported Following Johnson’s remarks, the campaign sought to put distance between Trump’s vague “plan concepts” to improve the ACA and Johnson’s full-on “no Obamacare” admission by claiming that Trump does not support repeal of the Affordable Care Act .

“This is not President Trump’s policy position,” campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. Tuesday night statement. “As President Trump has said, it will make our healthcare system better by increasing transparency, promoting choice and competition, and expanding access to new affordable health and insurance options.”

Republicans’ longstanding interest in repealing the ACA poses a political liability for Trump this cycle, and Trump, similar to his positions on abortion policy, has not offered anything specific about what he wants Congress to do if he wins back the White House and top control. He refrained from publicly confirming anything. and lower rooms. Trump and the entire Republican Congress tried unsuccessfully to repeal the law during his first term.

The campaign’s purge statement distancing Trump from Johnson comes as the House Speaker stated during a campaign event in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for Republican House candidate Ryan that Republicans either plan to get rid of the popular ACA or largely eliminate it. It came a day later. Mackenzie (R).

“Health reform will be a big part of the agenda. “There’s a lot of things that are still on the table when I say we’re going to have a very aggressive agenda for the first 100 days,” Johnson said on Monday. According to a video obtained by NBC News.

“No Obamacare?” one event attendee asked Johnson.

“No Obamacare,” Johnson replied, rolling his eyes. “The ACA is so deeply ingrained that we need major reform to make it work, and we have lots of ideas on how to do it.”

“We want to take a welding machine to the regulatory state. These institutions have been weaponized against the people. It crushes the free market; It is like a boot on the neck of job creators, entrepreneurs and risk takers. So healthcare is one of the sectors and we need it in every field,” Johnson continued. “And Trump will grow. So he will only serve one more term. He cannot run for re-election. “He will think about the legacy and we will fix these.”

The 14-year-old ACA, which provides health insurance to tens of millions of Americans, is a frequent target of Republicans.

Over the years, congressional Republicans have tried and failed many times to overturn Obamacare.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to repeal Obamacare. He tried to do this several times during his presidency; In the summer of 2017, the Senate was just one vote away from overturning the ACA. The backlash to Republicans’ failed attempt to repeal the law helped Democrats take back the House of Representatives in 2018. Republicans have since attempted to soften their stance on the issue, shifting to a reform rather than repeal position.

“I don’t want to end Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT WITH MUCH BETTER HEALTH CARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!” Trump said in his post on Truth Social: In November 2023.

Trump has been vague about his stance ever since. In September, during the only presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, the former president said Republicans would replace Obamacare under Trump’s second presidency.

“Obamacare was terrible healthcare. It always was. “Not so good today” Trump said during the debate:. “And I said, if we find something and we’re working on something, we’re going to do it and we’re going to change it.”

When pressed on the details of his succession plan, the former president offered nothing beyond the famous allusion to having “plan concepts.”

Meanwhile, in sharp contrast, Harris and the Democrats are campaigning to preserve and expand Obamacare; They highlight Trump and the GOP’s past efforts to cancel the health insurance program at every turn.

“Speaker Mike Johnson has made it clear that if Donald Trump wins, he and his Project 2025 allies in Congress will make sure ‘Obamacare’ doesn’t happen,” Harris’ campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement: According to Washington Post. “This means higher health care costs for millions of families and eliminating protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, asthma or cancer.”