Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma said Friday that Washington is “headed in the right direction” as it attempts to hammer out a deal to fund the federal government and extend the nation’s borrowing authority.
“Yesterday, for the first time we sat down and talked,” Mr. Lankford, a Republican, told CNN’s “New Day.”
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He said Republicans are still interested in reforming President Obama’s health care law, such as making sure members of Congress have the same experience as everyday Americans on the state-based insurance exchanges and a delay to penalties associated with the law’s individual mandate requiring most Americans to have some form of health coverage.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Health Care Reform
Democrats and Mr. Obama have criticized the GOP for tying the president’s signature law to a spending deal or an agreement to raise the debt limit.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Health Care Reform
Mr. Lankford couched it as a matter of fairness because people are “being hurt by Obamacare,” and the House has passed numerous bills to scale back the law.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Health Care Reform
“The Senate would never take them up; the president would never talk about them,” Mr. Lankford told CNN.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Health Care Reform
