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Republicans make repealing Obamacare 'first order of business'

04 January 2017 20:17 (UTC +04:00)

President Barack Obama exhorted fellow Democrats on Wednesday to preserve his legacy-defining healthcare law as Republicans launched their long-desired bid to scrap it in what Vice President-elect Mike Pence called the "first order of business" of Donald Trump's administration, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The Senate opened debate on a resolution setting in motion the Republican drive to repeal the Democratic-backed 2010 Affordable Care Act, which has helped upwards of 20 million previously uninsured Americans obtain medical insurance.

Obama, who hands over the presidency to Republican Trump on Jan. 20, ventured to Capitol Hill to urge Democratic lawmakers to protect the measure, which is known as Obamacare and is considered his signature domestic policy accomplishment.

Republicans, who will control both chambers of Congress and the White House when Trump takes office, stepped up their rhetorical attack on the law, which they have labeled a government overreach. Democrats in turn accused them of trying to rip apart the nation's healthcare system with no firm plan to replace it.

"The Republican plan to cut healthcare wouldn't 'make America great again,'" Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters, invoking Trump's campaign slogan. "It would make America sick again and lead to chaos instead of affordable care."

Obama "encouraged us to fight," Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings told reporters after the Obama meeting.

Pence, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, met Republican lawmakers to plot the path forward on scuttling the law. Afterward, they stepped up their rhetorical attack on Obamacare, with House Speaker Paul Ryan saying the law ruined the American healthcare system.

"The first order of business is to keep our promise to repeal Obamacare and replace it with the kind of healthcare reform that will lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government," Pence said at a news conference.

During a news conference, Pence and Ryan offered few details on what a Republican-backed replacement for Obamacare would look like but Ryan said lawmakers will take action that does not "pull the rug out from anybody."