President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Republican senators were "getting very close" on a healthcare bill after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pulled a vote this week as more members of his party came out against the bill.
"We're getting very close," Trump told reporters before the start of a meeting at the White House with senators. "For the country, we have to have healthcare — and it can't be Obamacare, which is melting down.
"The other side is saying all sorts of things before they even knew what the bill was."
Trump said that at least 50 of the Senate's 52 Republicans were at the meeting.
He was flanked by Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who has strongly opposed the legislation.
"We're going to talk and we're going to see what we can do," the president said.
McConnell, the six-term Kentucky senator, postponed the vote until after the Senate's Independence Day recess as more members said they would not back the bill.
Six Republicans had already said they would vote to debate on the current version of the bill.
Besides Collins, they were Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Mike Lee of Utah.
Others opposing the legislation Tuesday were Sens. Jerry of Kansas, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Rob Portman of Ohio.
McConnell needs support from at least 50 Republican senators to move forward with the measure.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its estimate Monday that the healthcare plan would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured in 2026 than Obamacare.
"This will be great if we get it done," President Trump said Tuesday. "If we don't get it done, it's just going to be something that we're not going to like.
"That's OK, and I understand that very well," he added. "But I think we have a chance to do something very, very important for the public — very, very important for the people of our country that we love."
Trump also slammed Obamacare as a program that is "melting down as we speak.
"Rates are going up. It's really on meltdown — and we're going to try and solve the problem."
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