White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday that Trump will release a long-promised health-care plan before the election, blaming repeated delays on efforts to craft something that can be accomplished largely without Congress.
Trump on multiple occasions has pledged to be on the verge of releasing a plan within weeks, only to let his self-imposed deadlines pass. During a town hall hosted by ABC News on Tuesday night, Trump told a voter that he has a comprehensive plan “ready to go,” prompting host George Stephanopoulos to note that Trump had not released one during his first 3 ½ years in office.
Asked about that Wednesday, Meadows told reporters that Trump was correct.
“It is all ready,” Meadows said. “We will be rolling it out before the election, sure. … He’s right, that it is ready.”
Meadows said “tweaks” and “modifications” have been made in recent weeks to reflect the realization that Trump is not likely to get a plan approved by a divided Congress before November.
“We know that nothing ever gets done in Congress,” he said, adding that the White House is trying to be “very creative” about what it can accomplish on its own.
“It’s more of an executive action with a legislative component,” he said. “We could have put something out a few weeks ago. … What I wanted to do is make sure that whatever we put out didn’t rely on Congress, so that’s the delay.”
Trump on multiple occasions has pledged to be on the verge of releasing a plan within weeks, only to let his self-imposed deadlines pass. During a town hall hosted by ABC News on Tuesday night, Trump told a voter that he has a comprehensive plan “ready to go,” prompting host George Stephanopoulos to note that Trump had not released one during his first 3 ½ years in office.
Asked about that Wednesday, Meadows told reporters that Trump was correct.
“It is all ready,” Meadows said. “We will be rolling it out before the election, sure. … He’s right, that it is ready.”
Meadows said “tweaks” and “modifications” have been made in recent weeks to reflect the realization that Trump is not likely to get a plan approved by a divided Congress before November.
“We know that nothing ever gets done in Congress,” he said, adding that the White House is trying to be “very creative” about what it can accomplish on its own.
“It’s more of an executive action with a legislative component,” he said. “We could have put something out a few weeks ago. … What I wanted to do is make sure that whatever we put out didn’t rely on Congress, so that’s the delay.”
