Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday morning joined “Fox and Friends” to help sell the Senate’s last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare, where he argued that “almost anything” would be better than the Affordable Care Act and that any funding issues with the current proposal could be addressed later.
“Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Pence to respond to Republicans like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who oppose the deal since it will decrease federal funds to their states.
Pence acknowledged that the bill will decrease funding over time, but argued that the way the bill distributes money is preferable. He also argued that Republicans should push ahead despite concern about funding, and that any issues like that would be addressed later.
“It’s absolutely true to say the Graham-Cassidy bill over time levels out on a per-person basis the way we distribute money on healthcare, which I think resonates with most Americans, that we will ultimately get to place where the resources available to states are based on a per-individual basis. And we’ll get to that,” he said.
“But, there is time in the days ahead and in future budgets to address those issues as they arise,” Pence added, stressing that the Graham-Cassidy bill is Republicans’ “last best chance” to “head America back in the direction of the kind of healthcare reform that’s based on individual choice, state based innovations.”
Earlier in the interview, Pence touted the bill by declaring that basically anything Republicans could pass would be better than the status quo.
“Almost anything would be better than Obamacare. Obamacare is imploding,” he said.
Asked if the bill would pass, considering that a few Republican senators have so far held off on publicly backing the bill, Pence said, “We’ll see. We’re close.”