Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told Newsmax TV on Friday that the last month's failure of the American Health Care Act rested solely with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and that current efforts by House Republicans to revise the bill fared better that the previous rollout.
"The healthcare debacle was outsourced to Paul Ryan," Cuccinelli, president of the Senate Conservatives Fund, told host Bill Tucker on "America Talks Live" in an interview. He was referring to the House speaker.
"We found out what Paul Ryan believes – and, apparently, it isn't that Obamacare should be repealed," he said. "That whole effort was a disaster.
"The way things are managed, not the policy itself, but the way they're managed, is something you should really look to the chief of staff about," he said.
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Ryan pulled the AHCA twice from a floor vote because of strong opposition from the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
The White House has jump-started talks, in hopes of having a big legislative achievement before President Donald Trump reaches his 100-day mark on Saturday – but a vote will not be held until next week.
"That was a real failure on Priebus' part – and there's a lot of just bad management there coming out of Priebus' role," Cuccinelli said.
"This is being done at least better," he added, referring to the current round of talks among Republicans. "Look, who's moaning and groaning doesn't matter a whole lot unless it changes how people behave.
"Trump knows he's on the side of working families."
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