Gohmert: Fine With Trump Call To Repeal, Then Replace

Rep. Louie Gohmert said Tuesday he's fine with President Donald Trump's call to repeal Obamacare before replacing it, as that will force lawmakers to set a deadline and complete a replacement plan.

"I just know that the huge majority of my constituents, people around Texas, they are hurting," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program.

"They cannot afford this any further. They lost their doctor, they lost their insurance. The people that were giving them the life-saving work are not in the network now."

Part of the reason Obamacare is failing, he continued, is that it "was the plan to bring down Obamacare so people would beg for socialized medicine. We can't go there. We have got to help the American people."

Gohmert said House members passed their bill months ago and expected the Senate to have passed a bill by now, but what the Senate has come up with was "not popular enough, because, according to people I trust, we're leaving Obamacare in place."

"In the bill that we voted on, we were going to bring premiums down," said Gohmert. "That was a big concern before. It wasn't doing any real repeal. It was leaving too much of Obamacare in place. But, people couldn't afford the premiums to keep going up and they were going to keep going up with the bill that was originally proposed."

The Senate, though is "dragging their feet," said Gohmert. "They are slow-walking this. We have got to get it done. "