'SPITEFUL, POINTLESS SABOTAGE': Democrats excoriate Trump's move to cancel Obamacare payments
The cost-sharing reduction payments were designed to offset the cost to insurers that offer affordable health plans to poor Americans. Without the subsidy, insurers would likely have to raise premiums.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement Thursday night: "Sadly, instead of working to lower health costs for Americans, it seems President Trump will single-handedly hike Americans' health premiums."
Pelosi and Schumer called the move a "spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of America."
"Make no mistake about it, Trump will try to blame the Affordable Care Act, but this will fall on his back and he will pay the price for it," the statement read.
It is Trump's latest attempt to dismantle Obamacare, the law also known as the Affordable Care Act. It follows months of failed attempts by the Republican-led Congress to develop a suitable replacement for Obamacare, which had been a key plank of Trump's agenda.
Trump has publicly bristled over his party's failure to get a healthcare bill to his desk and has previously threatened to take unilateral steps to undermine former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.