Washington Free Beacon reporter Elizabeth Harrington said Friday on Fox Business Network that if Republicans cannot repeal and replace Obamacare, then they should go ahead and simply repeal it.
Harrington voiced her support for the proposal, backed by President Donald Trump and Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.), on host Neil Cavuto's show "Coast to Coast."
Cavuto asked Harrington whether the markets are getting ahead of themselves believing Republicans can successfully repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Harrington was optimistic.
"No, I don't think so. If we remember what happened with the House Republicans, everyone said that the health care legislation was dead the first time they did not get enough votes to pass it. Six weeks later, they got together, they passed their version of the bill," Harrington said. "I think something similar will happen in the Senate."
"But this idea that President Trump endorsed earlier today, that because the Senate is trickier, because you have very few votes that you can lose to get something done, if they can't do that on health care, and what Sen. Ben Sasse has suggested and Trump endorsed, just doing a straight repeal, I think is a good strategy," Harrington added.
"Every Republican except one has already voted for repeal in the past," Sasse told "Fox and Friends" on Friday. "Let's do that first, if we can't do them together."
Trump voiced his agreement with the idea on Twitter.
"If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!" he wrote.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/880737163247267840
Harrington believes this strategy will force Republicans to finally deliver on longstanding promises.
"It will finally force the Senate Republicans to do something on health care which they have won so many elections promising to repeal Obamacare. They need to do it," she said.
"If they don't get enough votes, if they do a straight repeal, that will finally force them hopefully to enact some of their health care reforms they have been running on for so many years," Harrington added.