This photo, taken March 1, 2017, shows President Donald Trump, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (left) and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (right) as he speaks during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (Photo by EVAN VUCCI /AP)
WASHINGTON, DC — With the failure of Republican health care legislation, President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to replace so-called Obamacare “immediately” has been broken.
That promise stands at odds with his statement that “I never said repeal it and replace it within 64 days. I have a long time.”
On multiple occasions in the campaign, Trump said he would get rid of President Barack Obama’s health care law “very, very quickly,” especially if he came to office with a Republican-controlled Congress.
In Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, a week before the election, Trump vowed: “When we win on November 8th and elect a Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare.”
On dozens of occasions, he counted Obamacare among his priorities should he win. True to that spirit, it was the first major piece of legislation he tried to get Congress to pass. But there will be no quick achievement, as he promised.
Despite having the majority, House Republican leaders failed to win enough support for the replacement legislation to put it to a vote.
Trump said Friday “it won’t be in the very distant future” before he tries again. “I don’t think that’s going to be in too long a period of time.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Obamacare will live on “for the foreseeable future.”
The immediacy voiced – and promised – in the campaign is gone. –Calvin Woodward