U.S. President Donald Trump attacked his own party’s Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, for a second day on Thursday, complaining from the steps of his private New Jersey golf club about Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“I just want him to get repeal and replace done. I’ve been hearing repeal and replace now for seven years … Mitch, get to work and let’s get it done,” Trump told reporters at a briefing on his vacation.
In the aftermath of last month’s collapse in the Senate of a years-long Republican campaign to gut the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, Trump has been beratingMcConnell and other Republican senators, urging them to return to the divisive issue of reforming the U.S. healthcare insurance system.
Many senators, including McConnell, have been making the case that it is time to move on to other policies, such as tax reform and improving infrastructure.
Asked at the briefing in Bedminster, New Jersey, if McConnell should consider stepping down as Senate Republican leader, Trump said: “If he doesn’t get repeal and replace done, and he doesn’t get taxes done … and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done – infrastructure – if he doesn’t get them done, then you can ask me that question.”
But Trump also said, “Where is repeal and replace? Now I want tax reform and tax cuts… so I say tax cuts, tax reform and I want a very big infrastructure bill.”
Trump had assailed McConnell on Twitter earlier, responding to a speech in which the Senate leader said Trump had “excessive expectations” of Congress on matters such as healthcare and did not understand how long it can take to pass major legislation.
“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?” Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday.
A spokesman for McConnell declined comment on Trump’s tweets.
The president sharpened his criticism on Thursday, directly blaming McConnell for Congress’ failure to achieve the long-held Republican policy goal of rolling back former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation.
McConnell‘s efforts to push through a healthcare bill collapsed last month when he failed to reconcile conflicting demands among conservatives and moderates in the party and get all of the Republicans in the Senate behind the legislation. The House passed its version of a healthcare bill in May.
Alienating the Senate majority leader could make it far more difficult for Trump to achieve his legislative goals.
Trump has failed to notch a major legislative win since taking office in January, although Republicans control both the Senate and House of Representatives. The administration has also been mired in investigations into contacts between his presidential campaign and Russia, and distracted by infighting among high-level White House staff.
McConnell, in a speech on Monday in his home state of Kentucky, said the administration had set too many artificial deadlines and was disappointed when lawmakers did not meet them.
“Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before. And I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process,” McConnellsaid.
The blame game between the president, a real estate businessman who had never previously held public office, and McConnell coincides with opinion polls showing public approval rating for Congress and Trump dipping to new lows. A RealClearPolitics average of opinion polls shows approval for the job the president is doing at 37.9 percent, while just 15.7 percent approve of the work Congress is doing.