Vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) falsely claimed throughout Tuesday’s debate that former President Trump “saved” the Reasonably priced Care Act, the most recent try by Vance and Trump to rewrite the GOP presidential nominee’s report.
Trump “actually implemented some of these regulations when he was president of the United States,” Vance mentioned throughout the vice presidential debate in opposition to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).
“And I think you can make a really good argument that it salvaged ObamaCare, which was doing disastrously until Donald Trump came along,” Vance continued. “I believe this is a crucial level about President Trump.”
Vance added that Trump “could have destroyed” the legislation when it “was crushing under the weight of its own regulatory burden and health care costs.” However as an alternative, “he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.”
The talk was not the primary try by both man on the Republican ticket to whitewash Trump’s report on well being care. In interviews and even throughout the presidential debate, Vance and Trump have tried to depict Trump because the legislation’s selfless savior regardless of his efforts to repeal the legislation in workplace.
“ObamaCare was lousy health care, always was. It’s not very good today,” Trump mentioned throughout September’s debate in opposition to Vice President Harris. “I had a choice to make when I was president: Do I save it and make it as good as it can be? Never going to be great. Or do I let it rot? … And I saved it.”
In an interview on “Meet the Press” after the September debate, Vance doubled down on Trump’s characterization.
Vance mentioned Trump “may’ve destroyed” the legislation however as an alternative he “chose to build upon” it. Trump “protected those 20 million Americans from losing their health coverage … and he actually ensured that a lot of people were able to access coverage for the first time.”
However that isn’t what occurred.
Throughout his 4 years in workplace, Trump and congressional Republicans repeatedly tried to kill the legislation. Repealing ObamaCare was a centerpiece of his marketing campaign going into the 2016 election, and Republicans spent a lot of his first yr within the White Home looking for one of the simplest ways to do it.
The primary government order signed by Trump, simply hours after he was sworn into workplace, directed federal companies to roll again as a lot of the legislation as attainable.
“It is the policy of my Administration to seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” it learn.
When the GOP-led Home handed its model of an ObamaCare repeal invoice, Trump and Home Republicans celebrated in a Rose Backyard ceremony.
However the remaining Senate repeal invoice fell one vote wanting passage when then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) to vote in opposition to it in a dramatic late-night vote.
When outright repeal didn’t work, Trump labored to undermine the legislation. He reduce thousands and thousands of {dollars} in federal funding for outreach and navigators who assist folks join well being protection. He allowed the sale of short-term plans that didn’t need to adjust to the legislation’s necessities.
Trump’s administration additionally backed a Texas lawsuit geared toward getting the complete legislation declared unconstitutional. The Supreme Court docket finally rejected the argument.
Vance’s remarks Tuesday provoked swift derision and backlash from Democrats.
“Here’s where being an old guy gives you some history,” Walz quipped in response. “On Day 1, he [Trump] tried to sign an executive order to repeal the ACA. … And he would have repealed the ACA had it not been for the courage of John McCain to save that bill.”
“He must be forgetting that Trump and Senate Republicans tried to kill the ACA until John McCain stopped them,” Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media.
“Oh please. Now Vance is telling us that Donald Trump saved Obamacare? He spent his entire time as President trying to kill it,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) wrote in a submit.
“Really weird that Vance can say with a straight face that Trump made the ACA better. He tried every way he could to wipe it out,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) mentioned, including that the Ohio senator “has learned how to lie with a straight face.”
