Former GOP lawmaker, surgeon general say ‘transactional’ Trump might not veto bipartisan health legislation

Former Republican Rep. Larry Bucshon (Ind.) and former Surgeon General Jerome Adams both believe President Trump may hold off on vetoing any bipartisan healthcare legislation passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress, saying on Tuesday that Trump’s “transactional” nature and the final two years of his time in office could sway his decisions.

At The Hill’s Health Next Summit , both Bucshon and Adams were asked whether they believed Trump would veto potential bipartisan healthcare legislation that lands on his desk.

“I think he might,” said Bucshon of the possibility Trump might sign such bipartisan legislation. “I think that the president historically is transactional. He’s in the last two years of what he’ll consider potential legacy for his presidency, particularly on a couple of issues: healthcare, immigration and a few others. So, I think if you get a good bipartisan legislation that the American people support, the president will sign it.”

Trump had threatened he would become “ Mr. Veto ” if Democrats took back control of Congress. When it became evident on Election Night that Democrats had won both the House and Senate, Trump posted a photo of a hat on Truth Social emblazoned with the word “VETO.”

Despite these signals from Trump, Adams agreed with Bucshon, saying he wasn’t convinced the president would exercise this power as readily as he indicated.

Noting his recent interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Adams said Trump was aware that the country was “frustrated” with him.

“The question actually is: Will this current iteration of Congress be able to come together and put forward bipartisan legislation on healthcare?” Adams said at the event, which was sponsored by AstraZeneca, the Healthcare Distribution Alliance and the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health.

“I think that if they can; if the Democrats can come together amongst themselves. Number one, because you’ve got two different factions of the Democratic Party who have very different ideas about what healthcare legislation should look like, and in turn they can bring along Republicans, and they actually pass bipartisan legislation, I feel very confident that we have a good chance of it not getting vetoed because it would clearly then be defying the will of the American people,” he added.

Democrats are compiling their list of legislative priorities for when they take control in January, and chief among their health goals is restoring the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.

When Congress was negotiating renewing the credits last year, more than a dozen Republicans voted alongside Democrats on legislation to save them. Now, with Democrats poised to hold solid majorities in the House and Senate, the chances of a bipartisan agreement being reached have risen exponentially.

Before that can occur, however, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Mandy Cohen warned on Tuesday that the healthcare affordability crisis will get worse before it improves.

“First, affordability is going to get worse. I think everyone should understand it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Cohen said at the Health Next Summit.

“When you take billions of dollars out of the healthcare system, that goes somewhere. You squeeze the balloon one place, it comes out and employers are feeling that right now,” she added. “When you destabilize the individual market, like we did when we took away subsidies, coming out of employers, right? And that means wages get depressed. But also, AI; I’m a fan of what it could potentially accomplish. Right now, it’s just jacking up the cost of healthcare.”