Mike Pence: ‘First Order of Business Is to Repeal and Replace Obamacare’

Vice President-elect Mike Pence declared that the first order of business for the new Trump administration will be repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“First order of business is to repeal and replace Obamacare,” Pence declared at a press conference on Capitol Hill with GOP leadership on Wednesday morning.

The Vice President-elect is spending the day in Washington, D.C. meeting with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss how to repeal and replace the healthcare law.

On the same day, President Obama is huddling on Capitol Hill with Democrats about defending his signature legislation.

During the press conference, Pence noted that many of the states are experiencing healthcare premium hikes of roughly 25 percent this year.

“It needs to be done, not just as a promise kept, but because in the course of this election, the American people had a choice and what appeared to many as against all odds…our President-elect took his case to the American people to repeal and replace Obamacare,” Pence explained, adding that the American people voted for a “better future for healthcare in this country.”

“Our message is very simple … we are 16 days away from the end of business as usual in Washington, D.C.,” Pence stated, adding that the Trump administration is “in the promise-keeping business,” referencing several promises that Trump made on the campaign trail.

Pence said that Trump would repeal executive orders on his first day in the Oval Office.

“Working with the Congress, we’re going to have that classic three-part agenda,” he stated, referencing Trump’s campaign rhetoric of “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

The Vice President-elect also said in the first several months the Trump administration and Congress will construct tax reform, build a wall to help end illegal immigration and invest in rebuilding the military.