Lewandowski: The President Is Going To Close The Deal On O’care Repeal Today

Corey Lewandowski Former Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski at the Oxford Union, UK - 16 Nov 2016 (Rex Features via AP Images)
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President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager thinks the President will probably “close the deal today” on an Obamacare repeal bill because Trump is “a great dealmaker.”

Appearing on “Fox and Friends” Wednesday, Corey Lewandowski was asked about news that the President will have lunch with Republican Senators Wednesday to get the GOP on board with a health care repeal vote next week. He said Senate Republicans are “very, very close” to getting the support they need and said there are just a few “tweaks” that need to happen in order to bring opposing Senators on board.

“Look, it’s been publicly reported that there are probably two Republican U.S. Senators who are going to support the bill, Rand Paul from Kentucky and Sue Collins from Maine. You don’t necessarily need them if you get everybody else and you put (Vice President) Mike Pence in the chair and he breaks the tie,” he said. “I think this bill is going to get done. The President is probably going to close the deal today.”

However, it’s not clear which piece of legislation Lewandowski was discussing when he said that Trump would close the deal.

The Senate plans to consider a straight repeal of Obamacare next week now that it failed to earn enough support for its comprehensive replacement bill. So far, three senators have explicitly said they will not support advancing to a vote on clean repeal: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have signaled they will support a vote on straight repeal.

When Fox host Steve Doocy asked whether his statements came from “a gut feeling or a source feeling,” he said “my source is I know the president.”

“I know he is a great dealmaker, I know he is going to do whatever it takes to get this done. I know Mike Lee is someone who wants to support the President on this piece of legislation. I know that other members of the Republican Senate caucus want to support the President on this,” he said. “Look, this is something that the American people have been fighting for and the U.S. Senate has talked about for seven years. It’s now time for action. The President is going to get this bill done. He has campaigned on it, it’s time to move forward.”

He said he thinks if some of those opposed to the bill are able to get the funding they need for opioid addiction treatment back in their home states, they’ll come on board with the Republican plan.

“I think, at the end of the day, these U.S. Senators are going to come on board. They are going to support the President’s agenda because it’s the right thing to do for the American people.”   

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