Staring At Defeat, Deeply Divided House Republicans Pull Health Care Bill

United States President Donald Trump yesterday (24 March) asked the House Republicans to pull the heath care bill, a day after he threatened to walk away from health care reform if he didn't get a vote.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, eventually, pulled the Obamacare repeal bill from the floor, as reported by CNN.

In his first statement after pulling the bill, Trump leaned hard on the Democrats and said that Obamacare was going to "explode."

"The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer because they own Obamacare," Trump said. "They weren't going to give us a single vote," he added.

Trump, however, expressed hope that the future would see a "truly health care bill."

"We'll end up with a truly great health care bill in the future," he said.

Trump also said he was going to sit back and watch Obamacare fail. "I honestly believe the Democrats will come to us," he added.

Trump also denied any possibility of him reaching out to any Democrats proactively.

The US President did not hold back after the bill’s failure and reiterated many times that the Affordable Care Act would fail in the future. "It's imploding and soon will explode, and it's not going to be pretty," he said.

Trump praised Ryan and said he was "disappointed" in the Freedom Caucus, a conservative group within the Republican party that was a major obstacle to getting support on the bill. "We learned a lot about loyalty," he said.

"I think Paul worked really hard," adding that the tax reform was the next issue to be raised in the House.

Earlier in the day, Ryan told Trump he did not have the votes to pass the measure, the culmination of seven years of Republican efforts to eradicate President Barack Obama's proudest domestic achievement.

Ryan told fellow Republicans they were "moving on" from health care, Reps Andy Barr and Bill Flores told CNN. There is, however, no Plan B for the Republicans after the failure of the health care bill.

"We're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future," Ryan said after the pull-out. "I think we were doing the architects of Obamacare a favour" with this bill, Ryan said, adding that the Affordable Care Act is on the brink of failure.

The development comes as a major embarrassment for Trump, who had gambled big time by presenting holdout House conservatives with a take-it-or-leave it ultimatum on Thursday (23 March) night and had ultimately put his own credibility on the line.

Trump's faction in the House is said to have been unable to narrow the schism between Freedom Caucus conservatives, who believe the bill keeps too much of Obamacare intact, and moderates, who worry they will pay an electoral price if millions of Americans lose health insurance.

With Inputs From ANI.