As the Senate prepares to make another attempt at undoing the Affordable Care Act, the White House on Wednesday repeated its earlier preference: that the controversial healthcare program be repealed and replaced, rather than simply repealed.
At the regular briefing for reporters at the White House, Newsmax noted that the administration’s earlier remarks about the nature of repeal-and-replace legislation would seem to rule out its support for a flat-out repeal favored by many conservative Republicans in the House.
“Are you ruling out or discouraging a flat-out repeal measure first?” I asked. “We haven’t ruled out anything that helps move this process forward,” replied press secretary Sarah Sanders. “We're grateful for the efforts that are continuing in Congress, and we hope that they do what they campaigned on and what they promised the American people they would do, and that's not just repeal, but it's also replace.”
Sanders added that she thought “both of those parts are very important moving forward.”
Her reply was almost a repeat of what she said about repeal and replace on July 21. Citing her remarks earlier that day and White House congressional liaison Marc Short’s two days before, I asked if she favored “repeal and replace,” and if that meant she was against the outright repeal bill that Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced in the House.
“Not against,” Sanders said. “But again as Marc said earlier this week, our preference is to repeal and replace.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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