Obamacare is third defeat for Trump

Prez says Obamacare will fall apart, vows great new plan

Washington, March 25:

President Donald Trump faced the biggest blow yet to his young presidency as his bid to repeal Obamacare went down in flames at the hands of rebel Republican lawmakers.

Only two months into his presidency and Mr Trump has already suffered a string of defeats — a court blocked his controversial travel ban, at least four separate congressional investigations are underway into Russia’s meddling in the presidential elections and his campaign’s links to Moscow, and now the health care defeat. Mr Trump, however, was defiant and declared that Obamacare will fall apart and vowed to develop a “great” new health care plan for Americans to take its place. “ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!” he tweeted.

However, the stinging defeat showed the limits of Mr Trump’s power to deliver on an ambitious legislative agenda despite Republican control of both houses of Congress.

Already rocked by a string of damaging reversals and controversies, Mr Trump must now consider how to move forward in the face of a fractured, rebellious Congress.

“Mr Trump will have a very hard time dealing with these divides because he does not understand them,” said John Pitney, a professor of American politics at Claremont-McKenna College.

On Mr Trump’s agenda are a major overhaul of the tax system and a bill to upgrade infrastructure like roads and bridges.

“We were very, very close” to securing enough support for the Bill, Mr Trump had said earlier in the Oval Office. But with no Democratic backing, “we couldn’t quite get there.” — AFP