The Republican health care plan, advertised as the replacement for former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, has officially been pulled, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced Friday afternoon.
Ryan said he told President Donald Trump that they needed to pull the bill, and he agreed. Ryan called the day “disappointing.”
“We came really close today, but we came up short,” Ryan said.
“We have to do better and we will,” he added. “This is a setback, no two ways about it.”
It was a massive political blow to Ryan and Trump, and also means “we’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future,” Ryan said.
Trump told the GOP on Thursday that the House had to vote on the new bill today or he would leave Obamacare in place.
The vote was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed when it seemed Ryan wouldn’t have enough votes to pass the bill. The vote was then scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Friday, after more than five hours of debate, but at the last minute, Republican leadership announced the vote would be postponed.
Ryan had gone to the White House earlier Friday to tell Trump he didn’t have the votes to pass the Obamacare replacement.
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