[Independent] Senators have reached a bipartisan deal "in principle" to fund Obamacare insurance subsidies that Donald Trump said last week he would terminate. The plan between senators Lamar Alexander, a Republican, and Patty Murray, a Democrat, is intended to stabilise health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
The subsidies, officially called cost-sharing reduction payments, lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs for low-income consumers. They would be funded for two years under the agreement in exchange for more state flexibility in Obamacare.
For weeks, Mr Alexander and Ms Murray have been hammering out the healthcare legislation, which is separate from the Republicans' multiple failed attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Mr Trump said he will support the deal, but called it a "short-term solution". He said he is still looking to overhaul his predecessor's signature healthcare law.
"The solution will be about a year or two years. And it will get us over this intermediate hump," Mr Trump said during a news conference in the Rose Garden.
He said the long-term solution is to provide states with "block grants" to help people buy private insurance.