Trump fumes as US health care reform bid collapses

An angry President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against dissenters in his party who dashed his months-long effort to dismantle his predecessor’s landmark health care law, insisting it was finally time to “let Obamacare fail.”

With four Republicans now lined up against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health overhaul, the plan has flatlined in the 100-member chamber, where the party could afford only two defectors in order to get the measure passed.

McConnell announced a fresh effort aimed at repealing the Affordable Care Act now and crafting a replacement later, but that, too, ran into opposition from at least three Republicans who refused to repeal the law without a suitable fix at the ready.

The dramatic implosion effectively means Trump, who marks his first six months in office later this week, has no major legislative victory under his belt, squandering months of political capital.

Trump fired off a series of early morning tweets complaining about how he was “let down” by Democrats “and a few Republicans,” who announced their opposition to the leadership plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

– AFP