Lee on healthcare: Lumping too much into one bill dooms its chances

By Rebecca Savransky - 07/02/17 10:54 AM EDT
 
Lee on healthcare: Lumping too much into one bill dooms its chances
© Greg Nash

Sen. Mike LeeMichael (Mike) Shumway LeeOvernight Defense: Air Force general officially becomes first African American service chief | Senators introduce bill to block Trump armed drone sale measure | State Department's special envoy for Iran is departing the Trump administration Senators introduce bill to block Trump armed drone sale measure Trump signs major conservation bill into law MORE (R-Utah) during an interview that aired Sunday warned that putting too much into one piece of legislation makes it more difficult for it to pass.

During an interview on CBS's "Face The Nation," Lee addressed the Senate healthcare bill, saying the government needs to "re-inject free market forces in this environment."

"If we can't get this done ... what we ought to do is ... push full repeal and then embark on an iterative step-by-step process to decide what comes next," he said.

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"If we passed a measure of repealing ObamaCare ... with the understanding that at that point after passing the repeal measure, we would undertake a step-by-step process of designing what comes next, I think it's easier."

He added that "sometimes when you lump too many things into one piece of legislation, you doom its likelihood of success."
 
Lee said he fears that might be the situation senators face today.
 
His comments come after the Senate's Republican leadership last week decided to delay a vote on their healthcare bill after it became clear it lacked the votes for passage.
 
President Trump last week tweeted that if Republicans senators are not able to pass the healthcare bill they are working on now, "they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date."
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