Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he is making moves on a health care plan and is seeking to work with Democrats. Graham’s new gambit comes as the Senate GOP struggles to break the current intra-conference impasse on its Obamacare repeal legislation.
Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday that he was working on “a new approach to deal with how to replace Obamacare,” according to Politico.
“I think it will be fundamentally different. I think it will potentially attract some Democrats,” Graham said, adding that he would be ready to go into more detail in the next “24 to 48 hours.”
Though Graham has generally appeared supportive of the current Republican health care overhaul bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, he had raised some concerns along the way about the process and attended a bipartisan meeting earlier this spring on possibly health care proposals.
So far, he appears to have reached out to at least one Democrat on his effort. Later Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) confirmed that Graham discussed “briefly” with him that morning the prospect of bipartisan effort.
“I said, ‘Hey, you want to repair things and fix things? Count me in. I’ll sit and talk to you,'” Manchin told reporters, when describing a conversation they had as they passed each other in a Capitol hallway.
“He threw some things out and said, ‘Joe what about this, this and this?’ And I said, ‘You know, we’re not going vote to repeal,'” Manchin said. “But I said, ‘You know, if you’re wanting to repair and fix it with the private sector and no harm to Medicaid, and get rid of all the tax cuts you’re giving to the rich, let’s sit down and talk.’ And that’s where we left it.”
