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| Republicans delay vote on healthcare bill in major setback for Trump's Obamacare repeal | Republicans delay vote on healthcare bill in major setback for Trump's Obamacare repeal |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Facing growing opposition from members of his own party, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has delayed the vote on the Republicans' healthcare bill until after Congress's 4 July recess. | |
| The schedule change is another setback for Donald Trump's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare – officially known as the Affordable Care Act, which he has repeatedly referred to as "dead". | The schedule change is another setback for Donald Trump's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare – officially known as the Affordable Care Act, which he has repeatedly referred to as "dead". |
| Mr Trump has summoned all 52 Republican senators to the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss how to proceed - with Democrats appearing to scent the potential to turn their staunch opposition to the bill into a complete defeat for the Trump administration. | |
| Mr McConnell had been struggling to appease different wings of the Republican party. When he postponed the vote, at least five senators had suggested that they would vote against the motion to begin debate on the bill, which was originally scheduled to hit the Senate floor on Wednesday. | Mr McConnell had been struggling to appease different wings of the Republican party. When he postponed the vote, at least five senators had suggested that they would vote against the motion to begin debate on the bill, which was originally scheduled to hit the Senate floor on Wednesday. |
| The defectors included centrist Susan Collins of Maine, moderate Dean Heller of Nevada, and conservatives Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. | The defectors included centrist Susan Collins of Maine, moderate Dean Heller of Nevada, and conservatives Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. |
| The leading Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said that the lack of consensus over the healthcare bill proved that it was fundamentally flawed "at the centre" but that his party know "the fight is not over" regarding Republican plans to push the bill through. | |
| Mr Schumer said that the Democrats have a good chance of defeating the bill whether that is "a week from now, a month from now [or] a year from now." | |
| As for Mr McConnell, he said the Republican leadership are “still working toward getting at least 50 people in a comfortable place” over the healthcare bill. | |
| Despite the delay to legislation representing one of his major presidential campaign promises, Mr McConnell said that Mr Trump and the White House are “very anxious to help”. | |
| Mr McConnell added that healthcare is “a big complicated subject,” and complicated bills are “hard to pull together and hard to pass.” | |
| With a majority of 52 Republicans to 48 Democrats in the Senate, Mr McConnell can only afford to lose two votes on both the motion to begin formally considering the bill – known as the motion to proceed – as well as on the bill itself. In the event of a 50-50 tie, Vice President Mike Pence will cast the deciding vote. | |
| When asked by a reporter about what it would it would mean for the healthcare bill to stall on the motion to proceed, Ms Collins responded, "I hope it would mean that we will go back to the drawing board, work in a bipartisan fashion to correct the very real problems that do exist with the Affordable Care Act." | When asked by a reporter about what it would it would mean for the healthcare bill to stall on the motion to proceed, Ms Collins responded, "I hope it would mean that we will go back to the drawing board, work in a bipartisan fashion to correct the very real problems that do exist with the Affordable Care Act." |
| Mr McConnell and the Senate Republican leadership, who unveiled their healthcare measure last Thursday, had been pushing for a vote on the measure by the end of the week and the start of the recess. | |
| The delay in the vote was a sign that McConnell and Trump have failed so far to attract enough votes amid a solid block of Democratic opposition and attacks from both moderate and conservative Republican senators. | |
| Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski confirmed that the vote had been put off. “Nothing this week,” she told reporters as she left a Senate Republican luncheon. | |
| While the House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill last month to replace Obamacare, the Senate version appears to be stalled. | |
| Republican legislators' overlapping concerns and competing interests have presented McConnell with a balancing act. Moderate senators worry that millions of people would lose their insurance. Conservatives say the bill does not do enough to erase Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature domestic legislation. | |
| The bill's prospects were not helped by an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office saying the measure would cause 22 million Americans to lose medical insurance over the next decade. The report prompted Senator Collins, a key moderate vote, to say she could not support moving forward on the bill as it stands. Ms Collins repeated that after the vote was delayed, saying that she was unsure that "tinkering with the | |
| Passing the measure would hand Mr Trump a legislative win as he seeks to emerge from weeks of questions over Russia's role in last year's US presidential election. |