On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan implied Sen. Tom Cotton and Sen. Ted Cruz are “enemies” where the healthcare bill to replace Obamacare is concerned.
Ryan believed the bill could be on the president’s desk by Easter.
“[D]o you expect … assuming that they get you the bill back for the week of April the third, do you expect a vote the week of April the third on the final?” Hewitt asked Ryan.
“Absolutely,” Ryan assured Hewitt repeatedly.
“We will repeal and replace Obamacare by Easter?” Hewitt pressed him.
“Yeah, that has always been our plan.” He added, “The president asked us to put this on his desk before Easter, and we’re going to keep the commitment to him,” Ryan replied.
Hewitt later played clips of Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton saying on his show, “Hugh, there is no three-phase process. There is no three-step plan. That is just political talk. It’s just politicians engaging in spin.”
He also played a clip of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz dismissing “phase three”: “I’ve called bucket three the sucker’s bucket.”
“Okay, so Speaker Ryan, these are your friends,” Hewitt said to Ryan.
“Yes, they are,” Ryan replied. “And with friends like that, who needs, you know, you know the rest of the sentence.”
The vote for the Obamacare 2.0 bill takes place on Thursday in the House, and House GOP leadership claims it has the votes to pass the bill to the Senate.