New blow for Trump as Obamacare repeal bid collapses

WASHINGTON: 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.

Barely two months into his term, Trump was forced to withdraw an embattled Republican health care bill Friday, moments before a vote, leaving his campaign pledge to dismantle his predecessor’s health care reforms unfulfilled.

The stinging defeat showed the limits of 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, Trump must now consider how to move forward in the face of a fractured, rebellious Congress.

“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 ClaremontMcKenna College.

On 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, Trump said in the Oval Office.

But with no Democratic backing, “we couldn’t quite get there.”

Trump had thrown his full political weight behind the measure, spending days arm-twisting recalcitrant Republicans, and he declared himself “disappointed” and a “little surprised” by the defeat.