House Republican leaders pulled the Republican healthcare overhaul from consideration today after failing to find sufficient support to real the Affordable Care Act, the Washington Post reported.
“We just pulled it,” President Donald Trump told the Post in a telephone interview.
Pulling the bill means that, at least for the moment, Obamacare will remain in place. It’s a major defeat for Trump, who had demanded that Republican lawmakers support the bill.
Trump’s plan was opposed by every House Democrat, and controversial among Republicans – moderates thought it went too far in cutting benefits, while conservatives didn’t think it went far enough. Trump had attempted to negotiate with members of the far-right Freedom Caucus who oppose the bill. At a meeting on Thursday, he agreed to eliminate insurance requirements for benefits like maternity care, mental health and emergency services, according to the Times. But those concessions ended up gaining him no support from the bill’s right-wing detractors, while scaring even more moderates away. Faced with certain failure if the vote took place on Thursday as scheduled, House leaders postponed it.
But Trump demanded a vote today, vowing there would be no further changes to the bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan met with the president at midday to tell him there still weren’t enough votes to pass the legislation.
Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), who had planned to vote for the overhaul, told the Post Friday that the success or failure of the bill was a “statement” about both the Trump administration and “the Republican Party and where we’re headed.”
“So much political power is about perception,” Byrne said. “And if the perception is that you can’t get your first big initiative done, then that hurts the perceptions down the road about your ability to get other big things done.”
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