President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon said that the House would vote later in the day on the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, amid reports that the vote would not take place until Friday at the earliest as leaders scrambled to secure enough votes for its passage.
“Today the House is voting to repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare,” Trump said in a listening session with truckers and CEOs. “We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a very close vote.”
He said that the vote will be close “not because Obamacare is good” but because of “politics.”
“It’s no good. Everybody knows it’s no good,” Trump said. “It’s only politics, because we have a great bill. And I think we have a very good chance.”
Several outlets reported Thursday that the vote had been delayed by at least a day:
NEWS – No AHCA vote today, per GOP source. Still possible tomorrow
— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) March 23, 2017
Scalise’s office: Procedural votes at 8 pm, votes are now expected in the House tomorrow.
— Al Weaver (@alweaver22) March 23, 2017
Breaking: No vote on healthcare today per @kasie
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 23, 2017
Trump, amid the furor, spent his afternoon honking the horn of an 18-wheeler truck parked on the White House lawn.
More winning. So much winning.
This piece of garbage is so toxic, delaying it isn’t going to make it any easier to pass. The longer that lawmakers have to think about what’s happening, the more they’re going to back out.
So tired of all the winning
In other words nobody’s been able to work up enough courage to tell Agent Orange that his genius master plan to kill off the undeserving poor has stalled and won’t even pass the kamikaze House.
This gives Ryan more time for his savvy, brutal, calculating persuasion…“C’mon fellas… I’ve been tugging to this fantasy since I was in junior high…You HAVE to let me do this …Please? You can have my dessert for a week? Please???”
He’s the closer. It’s like something out of the film "Casino. "