Trump tells senators that health bill should be ‘more generous’ than ‘mean’ House version

Susan Walsh | AP

President Donald Trump talks with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 13, 2017, before having lunch with Republican Senators. From left are, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska the president and Ernst.

Congressional sources say President Donald Trump has told Republican senators that the House health care bill is “mean” and that the Senate version should be “more generous.”

The remarks were a surprising critique of a Republican-written House measure whose passage Trump fought for and embraced. They also seem to undercut efforts by Senate conservatives to impose restrictions in their chamber’s legislation, such as curbing the Medicaid health care program for the poor and limiting the services insurers must cover.

The sources say the president did not say what aspects of the bill he was characterizing.

Trump’s comments were described by people who received accounts of a White House lunch Trump had Tuesday with 15 GOP senators. They spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal a closed-door conversation.