Rep. Dave Brat said Wednesday that President Donald Trump must lobby Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to invoke the "nuclear option" if he wanted to get the Republican bill to replace Obamacare approved over Democratic opposition.
"We're with him 100 percent," the Virginia Republican told Dana Bash on CNN. "We want to see a repeal.
"That's what we've promised the last six years — and that's the issue. Repeal doesn't mean repeat."
Brat, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said that his major problem with the House bill introduced on Monday was that it also does not immediately repeal regulations affecting the insurance industry and what it must offer Americans.
That would come under phase three of the House bill, he said.
"We are not getting rid of regulations," he said. "That's the big price driver.
"That's part of Obamacare."
Those changes have to be made in the Senate, he said, and Democrats could block those efforts because chamber rules require a two-thirds vote to pass them.
The "nuclear option" requires only a simple majority.
"That's when you need 60 votes, so the best thing to assure a victory and win is to get rid of the rules," he told Bash. "Then, it's a win-win."
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