Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) agrees it’s been pretty unclear who has been running the show when it comes to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.
“It feels like it’s unclear where the center of gravity is like who’s running the show?” TPM asked Corker Friday as he took questions from reporters.
“Right, I agree,” he said.
Corker said he is looking forward to Trump’s nominee for HHS Secretary Tom Price taking over, but warned that process could stretch into mid-February.
In recent weeks, there’s been some miscommunication between the Trump administration and Capitol Hill leaders about what exactly the game plan is. In an interview with the Washington Post last weekend, Trump told the paper he wanted “insurance for everybody,” something Republicans on the hill hadn’t said. And, at times, questions about who is making the calls on timing have been fuzzy at best.
“I don’t think there’s been as much communication between the players and that’s why I was mentioning earlier, I’m glad they’re all going to be in Washington in one place,” Corker said. “The nominees really can’t weigh in on things so I’m hopeful that once they get here, they’ll get a little more synthesized if you will on where they’re going to go.”
He added that “I think what you may be seeing happening is because there hasn’t been that administrative, driving effort, I think what you’re seeing is people trying to rhetorically address and give people comfort.”
Corker has been among a handful of Republican senators pushing his leadership to take the ACA repeal and replace more slowly until a replacement is finalized. But even as he supports repealing and replacing Obamacare, Corker acknowledged Friday afternoon that getting Democrats on board was going to be tough.
“How all that works is going to be difficult,” Corker said.
That is why Corker argued the sooner Price is confirmed, the better.
“I think he is going to surprise people in how thoughtful he is. … I’m hopeful that as that moves along, it will move along with Tom Price at HHS,” Corker said.
“They really haven’t had somebody yet laying out what needs to happen and that’s why Tom is so important,” Corker said later. “Again, you all know I don’t say things that are empty. I’ve had a really in depth conversation with him on how we move ahead.”
