Schumer calls Trump admin ‘incompetent’ after healthcare bill pulled

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared the Trump administration “incompetent” on Friday, claiming victory after House Republicans pulled their bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

“The TrumpCare bill failed because of two traits that have plagued the Trump presidency since he took office: incompetence and broken promises,” Schumer told reporters.

“I have never seen an administration as incompetent as the one occupying the White House,” he added.

{mosads}

Schumer said that House Republicans’ decision to cancel a vote expected for Friday afternoon underscored that the White House can’t count votes and can’t get lawmakers to agree to a deal.

“So much for the art of the deal,” he said, a reference to the title of one of Trump’s most popular books.

Democrats declared victory after Republicans on Friday pulled their legislation, the American Health Care Act, acknowledging that it did not have enough votes to pass in the House.

Trump put the blame on Democrats, saying they offered no support for the bill and predicting ObamaCare would fail.

“I think the losers are [House Democratic leader] Nancy Pelosi [Calif.] and Chuck Schumer because now they own ObamaCare,” the president said.

But Trump added that he would be open to working with Democrats on healthcare in the future “if they got together with us and we got a real healthcare bill.”

With Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, they could have passed the bill without support from Democrats, who were not expected to support the legislation. But dozens of Republicans had come out against the GOP plan. 

Schumer dismissed Trump’s comments about working with Democrats, saying they don’t “make sense.” 

“It’s another one of his big tall tales. He couldn’t get enough Republican votes, he never tried to reach out to Democrats in any way. So the blame falls with president trump and with the Republicans,” Schumer told reporters.  

GOP leaders and the White House signaled it was prepared to walk away from healthcare reform for the time being.

Schumer reiterated that Democrats would work with Republicans if they abandon plans to repeal ObamaCare, which was signed into law seven years ago this week.

“What we said, we stand by. If they would denounce repeal … then we’ll work with them on improving [ObamaCare] and making it better. But they can’t continue to want to repeal,” he said. 

He added that Republicans are “very good at criticizing. They’re not very good at governing.”