--- title: Pat Toomey: "I Didn't Expect Donald Trump to Win" description: Toomey said at a town hall meeting that lawmakers are dealing with a President they never actually thought would be in power. canonical: https://time.com/4847861/pat-toomey-donald-trump-healthcare-bill/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-06T20:41:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:27:45.514Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'I Didn't Expect Trump to Win.' Republican Senator Explains the Struggle Over Health Care Bill og:description: "We didn’t expect to be in this situation." og:url: https://time.com/4847861/pat-toomey-donald-trump-healthcare-bill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72c919ce4d8d46a2/698892b5cd1bbab8ed700a48/pat-toomey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Sen. Pat Toomey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'I Didn't Expect Trump to Win.' Republican Senator Explains the Struggle Over Health Care Bill twitter:description: "We didn’t expect to be in this situation." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72c919ce4d8d46a2/698892b5cd1bbab8ed700a48/pat-toomey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'I Didn't Expect Donald Trump to Win.' Republican Senator Explains the Struggle Over Health Care Bill > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 6, 2017 8:41 PM UTC  Pat Toomey arrives for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress" on Feb. 24, 2015. Pat Toomey arrives for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress" on Feb. 24, 2015. Bill Clark—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 6, 2017 8:41 PM UTC Republican Sen. Pat Toomey had a candid explanation for why the Senate is [struggling](http://time.com/money/4825746/ahca-health-care-law-senate/) with a health care bill: Lawmakers didn’t think Donald Trump would become President. Speaking at a town hall Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Senator said that Republicans were having difficulty crafting a law to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act because they hadn’t planned for it to happen this year. “Look, I didn’t expect [Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4846688/trump-g20-meeting-hamburg-germany-protests/)to win, I think most of my colleagues didn’t, so we didn’t expect to be in this situation,” the Pennsylvania Senator said [at a Town Hall Wednesday.](http://abc27.com/2017/07/05/pat-toomey-joins-abc27-for-town-hall-event/?utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=facebook%5FABC27%5FNews) Toomey was responding to a question from ABC27 News Anchor Dennis Owens, who was moderating the town hall, about the process of drafting the legislation, much of which was done behind closed doors. Although Toomey was a member of the working group,[ according to CNN, ](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/05/politics/senate-republican-health-care-men/index.html)the secrecy of the process garnered criticism from Democrats and other members of the Republican Party who were not included. “Given how difficult it is to get to a consensus, it was hard to force that until there was a need to,” Toomey explained of the Republican Party. “That’s what we’ve been working on.” Toomey is one of the few Senators to hold town halls over the July 4th recess. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped to hold a vote on the bill before the recess, but he announced June 27 he was pushing back the timeline due to a lack of intra-party support. With Democrats universally opposed to the bill, Republicans can only lose 2 members of their 52 member conference. Toomey has not committed definitively to supporting the bill, according to the latest statement from his office. He did emphasize, however, that he would want the legislation to ensure no one loses eligibility for Medicaid and that people provided for under Obamacare continue to retain coverage. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that, [under the current version of the Senate bill, ](http://ti.me/2se8UvY) enrollment in Medicaid would fall 16% by 2026 for people under 65, and the federal government would reduce spending on the program by $772 billion over the next decade. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4847861/pat-toomey-donald-trump-healthcare-bill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4847861/pat-toomey-donald-trump-healthcare-bill/"},"headline":"'I Didn't Expect Donald Trump to Win.' 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