House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., urged the Senate to pass their healthcare bill before the August recess rolls around, saying Tuesday he has "high hopes" it will happen.
"Every day that goes by, we have a new story," McCarthy told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."
"Just in the short time since the House passed the bill, one more of those co-ops has collapsed. Nineteen out of 23 co-ops that were given $2 billion under Obamacare have now collapsed."
Republicans have made a promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, McCarthy continued, and there is "no excuse" for that not happening.
"Every member that had served here prior has voted on repealing Obamacare and made the promise that we would actually improve it, lower the cost of premiums . . . there is story after story that premiums have doubled in the individual market.
"Forty-one percent of every county [in the United States] only has one provider. What more do individuals need to understand?"
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is "always helpful" when talking to members of Congress, McCarthy said, and he thinks the president also would do well to speak to the American public about getting the bill passed and the facts about Obamacare.
"All it did was raise premiums, push more people out of the market," McCarthy said. "Look at the number of counties next year that won't have any healthcare. We cannot wait. I think the president talking to the American people will help drive those phone calls to those senators and encourage them to get it done this month."
Obamacare taxes also are continuing to harm the economy, McCarthy said, and that is why House Republicans voted to repeal them.
"For the last eight years the middle class is worth less today than they were eight years ago," McCarthy said.
"If you take the highest growth year under Barack Obama, it's still lower than the lowest year under Bill Clinton. This country has got to get working again. We have seen in the short time of Donald Trump, that more jobs are being produced."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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