Who Is The Democrat Talking With Trump On Health Policy?

President Donald Trump said he’s talking to Democrats on health care. No Democrat will cop to it.

POLITICO reached out to two dozen House and Senate offices and none would acknowledge they are in contact with the White House on health care.

“Lol no,” replied one Senate Democratic spokesperson, when asked if the president had reached out.

The president on Sunday said he has “had personal talks with some Democrats” about his idea to give cash directly to consumers to pay for their health care coverage.

“I can't tell you who they are. I just don't want to do that,” he said. “I am talking to some Democrats right now about doing that. People love it. We're gonna take the money – well, if it gets approved – we're gonna take the [enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidy] money. We're gonna pay it back to the people of our country to go out and buy health insurance so they can put it in a health account and we can do it a lot of different ways, but they'd buy their own health insurance.”

The White House did not provide specifics on the president’s comments.

“The President is committed [to] reducing health costs for everyday Americans, and he and the Administration are aggressively working to deliver. We are not going to detail the President’s private conversations, especially to a rag like Politico,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.

White House deputy chief of staff James Blair on Tuesday said at a Bloomberg event that there is interest in a bipartisan healthcare package but “the Democrats, I mean, honestly, have not really demonstrated an interest in having serious conversations.”

Democrats, for their part, say they don’t know who in their ranks could be talking to the president. Any Democrat who has spoken to the president may be reluctant to admit so publicly given Trump’s unpopularity with the Democratic base, especially before a plan is released. But the president and Democrats have little track record on bipartisan cooperation on legislation.

Given the slim GOP majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans would need Democratic support to enact any legislation unless the GOP tries to use the fast-track reconciliation process that circumvents the filibuster.

“I have no idea what Donald Trump is talking about,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on Monday about the president’s comments.

“I certainly haven't had a conversation with him. I have no visibility into [Senate Majority] Leader [Chuck] Schumer having a conversation with him. I don't know a single member of the House Democratic caucus who's had a conversation with Donald Trump,” Jeffries said.

Democrat Senate offices also said conversations with Trump aren’t happening.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wis.) spokesperson, Eli Rosen, said Trump hasn’t reached out there, either.

“She has been waiting for 10 years for a phone call from him to hear about his concept of a health care plan – besides repealing the Affordable Care Act that is,” Rosen said.

Congressional Democrats though are in talks with Republicans about the path forward on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), atthe Bloomberg event on Tuesday, said he’s in a text group chat with lawmakers like Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) about what could pass both chambers.

Schumer’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also was not aware of conversations with Trump.

Additionally, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) has not spoken to the president, according to her office. Durbin and Cortez Masto are among the eight Democrats who voted to reopen the federal government and end the shutdown last week.

The ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hasn’t spoken with Trump, according to his office.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) on Tuesday suggested that House Democrats aren’t in touch with the White House on health care.

“This administration is a black box. They are not communicating with us — members of Congress that are the ones that create policy,” she said at a Semafor event.

Trump has said he wants an alternative to extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, while he has long sought to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature law. Some policy expertstold POLITICO that the idea of direct cash payments from the federal government into health savings accounts could lead to a collapse of the Affordable Care Act.

Cheyenne Haslett, Myah Ward and Robert King contributed to this report.