TRUMP TASTES DEFEAT AS US HEALTHCARE BILL COLLAPSES

President Donald Trump suffered a stunning polit ical setback on Friday in a Con gress controlled by his own party when Republican leaders pulled legislation to overhaul the US healthcare system, a major 2016 election campaign promise of the president and his allies.

House of Representatives leaders yanked the bill after a rebellion by Republican moder ates and the party’s most con servative lawmakers left them short of votes, ensuring that Trump’s first major legislative initiative since taking office on Jan. 20 ended in failure. Demo crats were unified against it.

House Republicans had planned a vote on the measure after Trump late on Thursday cut off negotiations with Repub licans who had balked at the plan and issued an ultimatum to vote on Friday, win or lose. But des perate lobbying by the White House and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan was unable to round up the 216 votes needed for passage. “We learned a lot about loyalty. We learned a lot about the vote-getting process,” Trump said, although he sought to shift the blame to the Demo crats even though his party con trols the White House, the House and the Senate.

With the legislative collapse former US President Barack Obama’s signature domestic pol icy achievement, the 2010 Afford able Care Act - known as Obam acare - remains in place despite seven years of Republican prom ises to dismantle it.