House Republican leaders have abruptly pulled a rewrite of the nation’s health-care system under the Affordable Care Act from consideration.
“We just pulled it,” President Donald Trump confirmed to US media.
The decision came following Trump's ultimatum to lawmakers — and represented multiple failures for the new president and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
President Trump said the House Republican healthcare bill lacked support from Democrats and he predicted Obamacare would "explode
The Affordable Care Act - or 'Obamacare' - remains in place, and a major GOP campaign promise goes unfulfilled. It also casts doubt on the Republican Party’s ability to govern and to advance other high-stakes agenda items, including tax reform and infrastructure spending. Ryan is still without a signature achievement as speaker.
However, President Trump said he doesn't blame Ryan for the defeat.
President Trump told a Washington Post reporter efforts on the healthcare bill would be "over for now" but he would come back to healthcare "some time this year."
Sean Spicer, Mr Trump's spokesman said: "You can't force people to vote. At the end of the day this isn't a dictatorship. The president left it all on the field. He has given it his all. It shocked a lot of people how personal it was for him. He worked 6am to 11pm.
"Did he pull out all the stops? Did he call every member of Congress? Yes. At some point you can only do so much."
