Republicans are motivated by their dislike of President Barack Obama to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
"At this point, I think it's clear that the animating commitment is a hatred of Barack Obama," Murphy said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"Policy has been pushed to the wayside here. They don't seem to be tremendously interested in actually crafting something that insures more people or reduces rates. They just want to fulfill this commitment that they made to repeal Obamacare, and they don't seem to really care what's on the other side of that."
Murphy said he had been up front about being willing to work with Republicans on the heath bill.
"They want, as far as I can tell, flexibility of benefit design. They want something that has some cheaper premiums and less regulations in these exchanges. I'm willing to talk to them about that," Murphy said.
He added that he hopes Republicans can offer assurances that President Donald Trump will not undo their work.
"I'm willing to give them some flexibility of benefit design if they're willing to give us some security on these exchanges that Donald Trump won't unwind them," the Connecticut senator said.
Republicans have to be willing to work with Democrats, he added. "There is a legitimate compromise to be had here, and I think Democrats are willing to bend.
"But they (Republicans) have to throw out this process and come and work with us in regular order, like John McCain told them to yesterday," Murphy said, referring to a speech by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Tuesday.
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