Lotte New York Palace Hotel

New York, New York

4:35 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It is a great honor to have with us today President Al Sisi of Egypt. We have worked long and hard, and we are making a lot of progress on a lot of different fronts, and we appreciate everything that you’ve done.

PRESIDENT AL SISI: Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I know you appreciate everything that we’ve done. (Laughter.) But the relationship is very good, and thank you very much for your representatives. The relationship really has been very, very good, and we look forward to continuing today and tomorrow.

PRESIDENT AL SISI: Thank you very much. (As interpreted.) I thank you, Your Excellency, as well, for making the time to meet. This is a very good chance that we are meeting once more, and I’d like to thank you and extend my appreciation for all the support you’re giving to Egypt.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody.

Q Mr. President, will you restart aid to Egypt? Will you restart military aid to Egypt?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re going to certainly consider it.

Q Mr. President, is Graham-Cassidy going to pass?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it has a very good chance. Obamacare is a disaster. It’s failing badly. You look at the rates. You look at what’s happening with premiums for people. They can’t afford Obamacare. It’s been a catastrophic situation.

I believe that Graham-Cassidy really will do it the right way, and it is doing it the right way. It has tremendous support from Republicans. Certainly we’re at 47 or 48 already — senators — and a lot of others are looking at it very positively.

Mike Pence has been working on it — our Vice President — who has done such a great job on healthcare and knows healthcare so well — loves it. I think he might want to even say a few words about it.

Mike.

VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: President Trump made a commitment to the American people that we would repeal and replace Obamacare, and we’re grateful to Senator Graham, Senator Cassidy, and others that are coming together to keep the promise to the American people.

As the President has said many times, Obamacare is collapsing. American families and American businesses are bearing the burden, and this President and our entire administration are absolutely committed to support Graham-Cassidy, move forward legislation that will give the American people a fresh start on healthcare reform, not with government mandates, but by repealing the mandates on businesses and individuals, and giving the resources to the states to create healthcare solutions that will work for each individual state.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: For seven years, I’ve been hearing “repeal and replace Obamacare.” For seven years, I’ve been hearing how bad Obamacare is, but really more in the last two to three years than anything.

But for seven years, I’ve been hearing “repeal and replace.” We’ve been hearing how bad it is. We’ve been looking at the premiums go up. We’ve been looking at deductibles that have been through the roof. You have states like Arizona where the premiums are going to be worse this year than last year, and last year they were at 100 percent increase, 116 percent.

I think there’s tremendous support for it. I think it’s actually much better than the previous shot, which was very sadly let down. But again, we’ve been hearing about repeal and replace for seven years. They have a chance.

I thought that when I won, I would go to the Oval Office, sit down at my desk, and there would be a healthcare bill on my desk, to be honest. And it hasn’t worked out that way. And I think a lot of Republicans are embarrassed by it, but I have to tell you, I think they’re going to do a great job. If this happens, it will be a great thing for the country. Obamacare is a disaster. It’s a wreck. It’s a train wreck, and it’s only getting worse.

And I must be honest with you, whether it happens or not, something is going to happen, and it’s going to be positive because, frankly, Obamacare cannot make it. It cannot make it. We think this has a very good chance, but Obamacare is only getting worse. It’s dysfunctional now. It’s totally dysfunctional. And at some point, the Senate is going to be forced to make a deal. They’re just about at that point right now because Obamacare is so bad.

So I do think it has a very good chance of passage, and I certainly hope it passes, and they’ll be voting in the not-too-distant future. Thank you very much. Thank you.

END 4:40 P.M. EDT