Obama, Pence lobby Congress over ACA
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A partisan showdown is playing out on Capitol Hill. President Obama met with Democratic lawmakers about preserving his signature piece of legislation: the Affordable Care Act.
Vice President-Elect Mike Pence is rallying Republicans to repeal and replace the controversial healthcare law.
The president says Republicans face challenges trying to repeal a program that provides health insurance to an estimated $20 million Americans who either do not get coverage from their employers or cannot afford it.
Pence is nudging republican lawmakers to take the steps to repeal and replace Obamacare. Leaders of the republican controlled congress, along with President-Elect Donald Trump, have made it clear that rolling back the health care law would be priority No. 1 for the 115th Congress. Trump weighed in on the battle over Obamacare with a series of tweets: "Massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess. It will fall of its own weight - be careful!"
Sources inside the Pence meeting told Fox News that the vice president-elect would like to see a repeal bill on President Trump's desk by February 20. But Democrats want to know what they plan to replace it with.