Trump confirms he called the Republicans' healthcare bill 'mean'
President Donald Trump seemed to confirm reports that he called the House of Representatives' healthcare bill "mean" during a "Fox & Friends" interview that aired Sunday morning.
The Associated Press, citing anonymous congressional sources, reported earlier this month that Trump called the House's version of the bill "mean" during a meeting with Republican senators, asking them to make their version of the bill be more "generous."
The White House declined to comment on the AP's story, but Trump appeared to confirm his statements during the interview on Sunday.
Fox News' Pete Hegseth pointed to former President Barack Obama's recent Facebook post criticizing the Senate's healthcare bill. In addition to slamming the bill's effects, which would shift costs to older and sicker Americans, Obama said, efforts to tweak the Senate bill would not "change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation."
When Hegseth asked Trump to respond to Obama's criticisms, Trump replied: "Well he used my term, 'mean'. That was my term because I want to see - and I speak from the heart, that's what I want to see. I want to see a bill with heart."
Trump went on to acknowledge that not everyone would be happy with the GOP's replacement legislation for the Affordable Care Act.
"We have a very good plan," he said. "We have a few people that are - I think you could say modestly - they're not standing on the rooftops and screaming, they want to get some points. I think they'll get some points."
The Senate bill has faced significant blowback from Democrats as well as some Republicans. Since it's likely Democrats will unanimously vote against the bill, Republicans can afford to lose two votes before the bill is jeopardized. So far, five Republican senators have come out against the measure.
In the same interview, Trump said he doesn't think congressional Republicans are "that far off" from passing the healthcare overhaul to replace "the dead carcass of Obamacare" and believes that his majority party is "going to get there."