Lankford on health care: 'It's got to be done and it's got to be done right'

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Health care is again in the cross-hairs of just about everyone on Capitol Hill this week.

As Republican senators continue to debate a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, pressure is mounting from the White House and, especially, President Donald Trump, to get a bill passed.

The in-fighting between GOP members on health care has many questioning why the party can't pull together and get major legislation passed, despite holding the White House and majorities in both the House and Senate. On Sunday, that struggle prompted FOX News Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo to ask Oklahoma Senator James Lankford if Republicans really want to see President Trump succeed?

"We more than want the president to be successful, we want the nation to be successful," said Lankford. "We understand what this means, not just for the President and his legacy, but for people at home and the entire country. It's got to be done and it's got to be done right."

Sen. Lankford says most Republicans agree on the key items that need to be changed in the ACA. He points to getting rid of individual and employer mandates, returning control to the state and making sure people in the "safety net" still have access to affordable health care. But right now, the biggest problem Lankford says they're facing is execution.

"We all agree on all of those things," Lankford says. "It's the how to get it done and what that actually looks like, we're working through the details of that to get it done."

The Senate is slated to vote on a Republican health care bill at some point this week, but right now it's unclear if that will be a repeal and replace or a simple repeal vote. Senator Lankford says Senators can't underestimate how important passing healthcare legislation is to the rest of President Trump's agenda.

"If they're not worried about it, they should be worried about it," said Sen. Lankford. "If we can't fulfill the first promise, it's hard to believe the second one gets done."

The second promise Lankford is referring to is tax reform.

Tax reform is another major domestic policy agenda President Trump promised during the campaign and was introduced last week as part of the House GOP's budget proposal. But the big debate over health care has pushed tax plans to the back burner. Senator Lankford says he believes tax reform is vital to the U.S. economy going forward.

"There's no silver bullet in recovering the economy fully, but definitely one of the major pieces is tax reform."

Watch Sen. Lankford's full comments below: