GOP cancels health care vote as House Republicans balk at bill

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, left, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, on right. Ryan called off the vote that Trump had demanded he hold Friday on the health-care bill after visiting the president at the White House, according to a senior leadership aide. / BLOOMBERG NEWS PHOTO
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, left, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, on right. Ryan called off the vote that Trump had demanded he hold Friday on the health-care bill after visiting the president at the White House, according to a senior leadership aide. / BLOOMBERG NEWS PHOTO

WASHINGTON – Republicans scrapped a vote on the embattled health care bill Friday as a growing number of Republicans declared they opposed the latest version just a day after President Donald Trump demanded a do-or-die vote on the longtime GOP priority.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called off the vote that Trump had demanded he hold Friday after visiting the president at the White House, according to a senior leadership aide. The cancellation is an embarrassing setback that casts doubt on Trump and Ryan’s ability to deliver on their ambitious agenda, including taxes and infrastructure, both of which are being closely watched by Wall Street.

Trump himself had waded into the legislative weeds to fight for the bill, meeting with scores of lawmakers and traveling to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to address the full House Republican conference. The president “left everything on the field,” according to spokesman Sean Spicer.

Top Trump aides told House Republicans Thursday night that the president had run out of patience: he wanted a vote Friday, win or lose, even if that meant leaving Obamacare in place.

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“There’s some divisiveness within our conference now that’s not healthy,” said New York Republican Chris Collins, the first House members to endorse Trump during the campaign. “I’ve never seen this before. People are just refusing to talk to each other. They’re storming past each other. This is not good.”

Both conservatives and moderates voted against the bill. Among those who announced opposition to the bill was House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey.

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