Trump wants GOP to 'own' health care issue but show 'flexibility' on abortion coverage restrictions

President Trump told House Republicans on Tuesday that they need to “own” health care as an issue ahead of the 2026 midterms by passing legislation that gives government subsidies directly to consumers instead of health insurance companies. 

Health care is the only issue Democrats have to campaign on, and “they’re lousy at it,” the president said in a speech meant to amp up House Republicans ahead of a make-it-or-break-it election cycle for their slim majority.

“You take the health care issue away from them,” Mr. Trump urged the GOP lawmakers as they gathered for a daylong retreat at the recently renamed Trump Kennedy Center to discuss policy and political strategies for the year.

Democrats will try to fight it because “they're all owned by the insurance companies,” but “there’s nothing they can do,” he said.  

He made it sound like he agrees with a majority of House Republicans who are pushing for another party-line reconciliation bill to pass a health care plan and other GOP priorities.

But then he made a surprise remark on the Hyde Amendment, policy language that would block taxpayer funds from paying for abortion, which most GOP lawmakers view as a must-have in any health care bill.

“You have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that,” Mr. Trump said. “You got to be a little flexible. You've got to work something. You got to use ingenuity.”

That remark could be interpreted as Mr. Trump asking Republicans to compromise with Democrats, who’ve said adding more restrictive Hyde language that already exists under current law is a “nonstarter.”

The president’s mixed messaging further muddied the waters in a complex congressional debate over health care sparked by the Dec. 31 expiration of Democrats’ COVID-era expansion of Obamacare subsidies, known as Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

“We'll have to figure out, dissect exactly what that all translates into,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said.

He said he has not talked to Mr. Trump recently about whether Republicans should pursue a party-line, filibuster-proof reconciliation bill to address health care, which would come with certain policy restrictions, or a bipartisan bill that would require Democratic cooperation.

Mr. Thune prefers the bipartisan approach and has encouraged ongoing negotiations from senators in both parties. Still, he has admitted that getting a deal both parties can support will be a “heavy lift,” especially with the partisan disagreement over the Hyde Amendment. 

Groups of House lawmakers have already floated bipartisan proposals, none of which included Hyde language, that House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, shot down.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said opposition to taxpayer funding of abortion “has been an unshakeable bedrock principle” of the GOP. 

“To suggest Republicans should be ‘flexible’ is an abandonment of this decades-long commitment,” she said in a statement responding to the president’s remarks. “If Republicans abandon Hyde, they are sure to lose this November.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said despite Mr. Trump’s comments, Republican leaders have made it clear they’re “wedded” to including Hyde language and a partisan approach.

Still, Senate Democrats involved in the bipartisan negotiations welcomed Mr. Trump’s suggestion that Republicans show more flexibility on Hyde. 

“That was a good sign,” said Sen. Peter Welch, Vermont Democrat.