Trump’s healthcare proposals in tatters

Bill withdrawn by president’s team as support falters

A vote on US President Donald Trump’s “Obamacare” repeal bill has been withdrawn at the last minute after it failed to gain enough support to pass in Congress.

The president and Republican leaders agreed to pull the vote yesterday after it became apparent it would not get enough votes.

The withdrawal is seen as a major defeat for Mr Trump. Replacing the health programme – set in place by former US President Barack Obama – was one of Mr Trump’s election pledges

Mr Trump had demanded House Republicans vote on the legislation yesterday, threatening to leave “Obamacare” in place and move on to other issues if the vote failed. The bill was withdrawn minutes before the vote was due to take place.

The president’s gamble failed. Instead, Mr Trump saw his ultimatum rejected by Republican lawmakers who made clear they answer to their own voters, not to the president.

Mr Trump is certain to be weakened politically – with a big early congressional defeat adding to the continuing inquiries into his presidential campaign’s Russia connections and his unfounded wiretapping allegations against Mr Obama.

Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, chairman of a major committee, Appropriations, said the bill would raise costs unacceptably on his constituents.

The defections raised the possibility that the bill would fail. In the face of that evidence, and despite insistences from White House officials and House Speaker Paul Ryan that yesterday was the day to vote, leadership pulled back from the brink.

The bill would have ended Obama’s Medicaid expansion and trimmed future federal financing for the federal-state program, letting states impose work requirements on some of the 70 million beneficiaries.

Mr Trump said his healthcare reform fell short because it lacked support from Democrats.

Trump made his first comments about the failure of a signature legislative item in the Oval Office a short time after the bill was withdrawn.

Mr Trump told reporters “we were very close” and tried to blame Democrats, though Republicans control both the House and the Senate.

Pictures: Getty Images. An angry President Trump blames Democrats for the bill being pulled before a Congress vote.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is grim-faced after the bill was pulled.