President Donald Trump is promising to roll out a health care plan to replace Obamacare by mid-March, and he’ll follow that with a budget and a plan to reform the tax code.
For all of the administration’s early fits and starts with respect to repealing Obamacare and having a plan waiting in the wings to replace it, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer used a line in his press briefing Wednesday Democrats will certainly remind him of in the months to come:
“The president’s plan is actually going to do exactly what they were promised eight years ago and didn’t get. So for those who are worried, the answer is help is on the way.”
The House of Representatives is driving the replacement plan for health care, and sources working on it say it’s moving along smoothly despite some fear stemming from increasing attention on protestors hoping Congress will preserve Obamacare. But it is still an ambitious timeline for an administration that has gotten off to a fast start but has had its share of hurdles in getting early goals to stick.
Health care legislation will track closely with the president’s budget proposal and his highly anticipated tax reform plan he said is already finished, which will dominate his domestic agenda throughout the spring.
That starts on Tuesday, when the president will deliver a joint address to Congress in lieu of a State of the Union, which presidents begin to give at the start of their second year in office. Spicer said Trump will give an optimistic speech — which would contrast dramatically with his inaugural address and his recent complaints that he inherited a mess.
He’ll follow that address with presidential visits to several spots he wants to highlight in the weeks thereafter.
About two weeks after the president’s address, he will roll out the budget he and his economic team have been preparing during legislative sessions at the White House over the past few days.
At one of those meetings Wednesday, he pledged:
“I want the American people to know that our budget will reflect their priorities. We’ll be directing all of our departments and agencies to protect every last American and every last tax dollar. No more wasted money.”
Despite the turn to Congress on those major priorities, Spicer warned: “If you’ve missed executive orders, you’re going to see a bunch.”