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Trump Hopeful About Health Care Bill: 'I Think We're Going to Get There'

President Donald Trump expressed confidence in his party’s ability to unify to pass a Senate health care bill, saying “I think we’re going to get there.”
Image: President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing event in the East Room of the White House, June 23, 2017, in Washington.
President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing event in the East Room of the White House, June 23, 2017, in Washington.Evan Vucci / AP

President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed confidence in his party’s ability to unify to pass a contentious Senate health care bill, saying, "I think we’re going to get there."

“I don't think they're that far off. Famous last words, right? But I think we're going to get there,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that aired on Sunday. “Can't promise. I think we're going to get there.”

The president also acknowledged that he was facing some opposition to the bill within the Republican Party and that “honestly, nobody can be totally happy."

“Healthcare's a very complicated subject from the standpoint that you move it this way, and this group doesn't like it,” he said. “You move it a little bit over here, you have a very narrow path.”

"We have a very good plan. We have a few people that are — I think you could say modestly — they're not standing on the rooftops and screaming, they want to get some points, I think they'll get some points," he later added.

Related: 'Let’s Not Rush This': Senators Urge Healthcare Vote Delay

Trump’s comments come days after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's effort to pass the GOP plan got a little harder Friday as Nevada's Dean Heller became the fifth Republican senator to say he could not support the bill in its current form.

"I'm telling you right now, I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Nevadans," Heller said.

McConnell has said he wants to put the bill up for a full Senate vote this week, but has faced opposition from both ends of the party as well as the Democrats.

Related: Inside the Health Care Bill: Trump Wanted 'Heart.' He Didn't Get It

The 142-page Better Care Reconciliation Act has faced criticism for cutting health care spending for low-and middle-income Americans and using those savings to make large tax cuts for the wealthy and for the medical industry.

Former President Barack Obama said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he “recognized that repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act has become a core tenet of the Republican Party” and slammed what he called “the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.”

Obama’s words seemed to mirror Trump’s. In a meeting with GOP senators earlier this month, the president reportedly gave the lawmakers support to move in a different direction from the version passed by the House in May, describing that bill as "mean," according to Senate aides whose bosses attended the lunch.

On Sunday, Trump said Obama "used my term."

"That was my term because I want to see — and I speak from the heart, that's what I want to see — I want to see a bill with heart," he said.