House Speaker Paul Ryan said he fears that President Trump will ally with Democrats if Republicans fail to come up another plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
“What I worry about is that if we don’t do this, then he’ll just go work with Democrats to try and change ObamaCare and that’s not – that’s hardly a conservative thing,” Ryan told “CBS This Morning” in an interview that aired Thursday.
The Wisconsin Republican said an alliance between Trump and House Democrats, who opposed the GOP’s American Health Care Act, would only dilute the measure.
“I want a patient-centered system. I don’t want government running health care. The government shouldn’t tell you what you must do with your life, with your health care. We should give people choices,” Ryan said.
A Republican senator blasted Ryan for his go-it-alone approach to reforming health care.
“We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president NOT to work with the other party to solve a problem,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) wrote on Twitter.
Later at his press briefing, Ryan reiterated his belief that Republicans should go it alone to pass a health care bill without help from across the aisle.
“If we’re going to do what we said we would do, which is repeal and replace ObamaCare and save the American health care system, something tells me the Democrats aren’t going to help us repeal ObamaCare. They’re the ones who created it in the first place,” he said.
Ryan pulled the plan last Friday amid strong opposition from the more conservative wing of House Republicans who felt it didn’t go far enough to outright repeal former President Obama’s signature domestic legislation.
The speaker said despite the embarrassing defeat, the desire to scrap ObamaCare is still strong.
“About 90 percent of our members are for this bill,” he said. “We’re not going to give up after seven years of dealing with this, after running on a plan all of last year, translating that plan into legislation, which is what this is.”
Asked what Plan B is, Ryan said it is to “figure out how we get to yes.”
“We’re listening to people. If we can make improvements to this bill, all the better. So if improvements can be made to this legislation that get people to yes, that’s great,” Ryan said.