A big defeat came to President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Friday, March 24 when the affordable care act, commonly known as Obamacare, could not be overturned and replaced. Ryan said he was disappointed. After all, he had worked on this for the last seven years even before he became the Speaker of the House and before Trump became President of the United States. This was one of Trump's most important bill he wanted passed. He vowed on the campaign trail that the first thing he was going to do was to wipe out whatever President Obama had done with health care.
On Thursday night, the president had given members of the House an ultimatum to continue with the vote no matter what the outcome would be. On Friday, the bill couldn't even get out of the House where the Republicans have the largest majority for the first time since the 1920s.
Trump blames Democrats
The Republicans' top priority had been to repeal and replace Obamacare since it was signed into law in 2010. For the last seven years, Republicans vowed to change the existing health care plan once they gained control of the House, Senate and White House.
Minutes after the bill was canceled, House Speaker Paul Ryan accepted the decision even though he was very disappointed. However, in Trump's usual fashion, he cast blame on someone other than himself.
President Trump spoke from the Oval Office where he complimented Speaker Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price for the work they had done.
Trump blamed the Democrats even though the Republicans controlled the House. The truth is President Trump couldn't get his own party to rally behind him.
Some Republicans believe Trump's plan would leave too many Americans without any health insurance at all.
Thank you! Resistance matters. Today, House leaders cancelled the vote on repealing Obamacare. Dayenu!... https://t.co/7NYgtZBksT
— NAPW (@NAPW) March 24, 2017
Aftermath of the cancellation
The cancellation of the health care bill is considered a defeat for the president.
It has been said that future bills will be harder to pass. Other than saying he blames the Democrats, the president also said he has learned a lot about loyalty and about getting votes from his own party. Will the Republicans go along with him when he brings the tax bill to the House?
