Republican senators are vacillating over the revised healthcare bill because "I'm not certain they actually know exactly what they want to do yet," former top GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff told Newsmax TV on Friday.
"That's a problem – and that's a leadership problem," Abramoff told "Newsmax Now" host Bill Tucker in an interview.
He said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky needed to become "a bold leader" and follow the playbook of former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson when he was in both the Senate and the White House.
"They need to have a bold leader and McConnell has got to become a bold, bold leader," Abramoff told Tucker.
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The Kentucky Republican needs to "sit these people down," he said, and tell them:
"'Folks, this is what's going to have to happen here. This is what's meaningful and fulfills the promises that we've made and gets rid of this debacle and stops the collapse of our healthcare system. This is what we're passing, because if we don't pass it again, we're going to be losing.'
"And once they've had that message, every one of the 52 of the senators and every member in the House and everybody in the party has got to be on the same page and fight to push that forward," Abramoff said.
"I hope that they figure out their communication strategy.
"You can't lobby anything without access and persuasion and that is communication," he told Tucker. "Ultimately, if they don't sort it out soon, they're not going to be able to sort it out later."
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