Trump told senators the Obamacare repeal bill he once celebrated is 'mean'

Eliza Collins | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump: Millions 'victimized by Obamacare' President Donald Trump is again highlighting the stories of people whose health care premiums have skyrocketed as he tries to push a GOP replacement plan. (June 13)

President Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that he thinks the bill that House Republicans passed in May to repeal and replace Obamacare was “mean" — even though the president celebrated passage of the legislation with a pep-rally style event with House leaders in the Rose Garden.

Trump said at the time that he brought the lawmakers over — on buses from Capitol Hill, no less — after the bill narrowly passed through the House because “we want to brag about the plan.”

"Welcome to the beginning of the end of Obamacare,” Vice President Pence proclaimed as roughly four dozen Republican lawmakers whooped it up in the Rose Garden.

But according to a GOP Senate aide, who was granted anonymity to be able to speak freely about private conversations, the president told senators he met with Tuesday that the House’s version of the health care bill is “mean” and he wants the Senate to generate a more generous package with more “heart.” AP first reported the comments and the aide confirmed them to USA TODAY.

On Tuesday, 13 Senate Republicans from different factions of the party gathered at the White House to discuss the bill they were drafting to repeal and replace Obamacare. Senators have said that the House bill was dead on arrival and they’re quietly working on their own version that the two chambers will have to reconcile later on.

Democrats and some moderate Republicans have attacked the House bill for eliminating a requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing conditions and for rolling back the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid to cover millions of poor people. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the House bill will result in 23 million more people being uninsured by 2026.

AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., responded to Trump's reported comments by saying: "Congressional Republicans, with President Trump’s support, are working to repeal and replace this terrible Obamacare law that is harming Americans."

The White House declined to comment.