The Latest: Trump says health bill 'has to get passed'
The Latest on the Republican effort to replace the Obama health care law (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he is sitting in the Oval Office "with a pen in hand" waiting to sign a bill to repeal and replace the health care law. Trump says in an interview Wednesday with CBN Founder Pat Robertson that the health care bill "has to get passed."
Trump says if the bill doesn't pass the Senate "it would be very bad" and he will be "very angry about it and a lot of people will be very upset."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was expected to release a revised bill repealing much of the 2010 law on Thursday. But Republicans still lack the votes to pass the bill.
Asked if McConnell can pull it off, Trump says McConnell has "got to pull it off. He's working very hard."
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2:05 p.m.
Republican efforts to scrap much of Democrat Barack Obama's health care law have hit a new complication. House conservatives are wary of the emerging Senate bill. They are insisting that the bill satisfy their goals of low-premium insurance policies with bare-bones coverage.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell planned to unveil a revised bill repealing much of the 2010 statute on Thursday. That's despite no visible signs that leaders have rounded up enough GOP support to win its passage.
McConnell's Kentucky colleague, conservative Rand Paul, said he opposed the new measure because it didn't do enough to uproot Obama's law. He told reporters in a conference call Wednesday that he saw nothing in the bill "remotely resembling repeal."
Republicans have promised for seven years to repeal and replace the law, vows that lifted them to electoral triumphs and delivered control of the House, Senate and White House. But a divided GOP has struggled to come up with legislation fulfilling that pledge.
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