House Republicans Cancel Vote On Health Care Bill

The health care vote has now been called off, after Republican leaders and the White House tried and failed to win sufficient support for the GOP legislation to undo Obamacare.

After Republican leaders abruptly postponed the vote on the GOP health care bill Thursday, President Trump declared he was finished negotiating. He sent Republicans opposed to the current measure a message through OMB Director Mick Mulvaney that he was done negotiating and he wanted the vote Friday.

House Speaker Paul Ryan went to the White House earlier today to brief the president on the status of the vote.

CBS News' Margaret Brennan confirms, in spite of intensive lobbying, Republicans and the White House failed to garner enough support for the bill.

President Trump asked Speaker Ryan to pull the bill from the floor, Catherine Reynolds reports, according to a House GOP aide. Ryan will hold a press conference at 4 p.m., and the House Republican conference is meeting right now.

Mr. Trump had insisted yesterday that the House hold the vote. The president had been confident earlier this week that the votes would materialize, but last night, Ryan told OMB Director Mick Mulvaney that he didn’t have the votes for the bill. Mulvaney responded, “The president doesn’t care. The president wants a vote,” Major Garrett reported. Mulvaney, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus told Republicans yesterday they could negotiate among themselves and work on new ideas, but there would be no more talks with the White House. 

This was an approach straight from the pages of Mr. Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal.”

It’s not an approach that worked this time, but Mr. Trump may have more to say about this in his remarks, also expected later this afternoon.