President Donald Trump celebrated after the House of Representatives voted on a health care bill designed to repeal and replace Obamacare, but late-night hosts weren’t so overjoyed.
Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Jimmy Fallon spoke about the new health care bill on their Thursday shows, largely panning the bill and those it left behind.
Late Night‘s Meyers skewered the plan in a “Closer Look” segment, calling out members of Congress who voted on the bill without ever reading it. “The bill literally takes from the poor and gives to the rich,” said Meyers. “It’s exactly what Bernie Sanders warned us about.”
“To get the bill passed today, Republicans added new things that made it even worse,” Meyers joked about the new version of the bill, which allows states to opt out of Obamacare’s ban on refusing to cover pre-existing conditions. “They basically took an oatmeal-raisin cookie and added cilantro.”
The Late Show‘s Colbert faux-celebrated the “victory” of the bill. “So they did it. Obamacare is now officially dead … is something they can say once the bill goes to the Senate, then gets out of committee, is debated on the floor where amendments can be added …” and so forth.
“That’s why Republicans were chanting, ‘We’re number one … third of the way through a very complex process,” Colbert added during his monologue.
He also noted a reporter’s quote from White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, which said, “The president stepped up and helped punt the ball into the end zone.” Colbert joked, “A more accurate football metaphor would have been, ‘The GOP just kicked America in the balls.’ ”
The Daily Show‘s Noah argued that, while several people are upset with the proposed health care bill, “one group that should be more pissed off than any other is Trump voters,” because he went back on his campaign promises about the bill.
Showing footage of Trump’s statements last year, in which the now-president said the plan “will be unbelievable,” Noah agreed. “Donald Trump is right. What happened today is f—ing unbelievable.”
The Tonight Show’s Fallon also had joked about not reading the bill, along with some more helpful sports analogies. “Today, the House voted to pass the Republican healthcare bill before taking an 11-day recess. They say they’ll use the break to kick back, relax and finally read the bill they just voted for,” Fallon joked.
“Actually, Reince Priebus said that Trump helped pass the bill by ‘punting the ball into the end zone,'” he added. “When told that analogy didn’t quite make sense, he said, ‘I meant that he hit a grand slam into the net and slapped the puck right into the hoop! Is that better?'”
