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Trump’s agenda suffers major setback, as Obamacare repeal fails at US Senate

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Trump's agenda suffers major setback, as Obamacare repeal fails at US Senate

The attempt by incumbent President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, to repeal the Affordable Care Act, widely tagged “Obamacare”, which was put in place by his predecessor, Barack Obama, has been dealt a serious blow as it failed in the US Senate on Friday.

Trump nose-dived in his bid to repeal the health care law following an unsuccessful attempt by Senate Republicans thereby putting an end, at least for now, to the Party’s seven-year quest to overturn Obamacare.

The decision as to whether or not the repeal would pass came down to three Republicans who crossed party lines, joining the Democrats to kill the bill.

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In the end, it was voted down 51 votes to 49, with Senator John McCain, who returned to the Senate this week after receiving a diagnosis of brain cancer, casting the decisive vote to defeat the measure.

It was the last resort for Senate Republicans to pass something – anything – to trigger negotiations with the House on a broader repeal-and-replace plan of the controversial bill dubbed the “skinny repeal”.

“This is clearly a disappointing moment,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor after the vote.

Recall that last month,Trump who made repealing and replacing Obamacare a top agenda, said he was disappointed in the Senate’s failure to move ahead on attempts to repeal and replace the law, and argued that Republicans should let the law fail on its own.

But renewed efforts to repeal the law had however seemingly rekindled his hope which has now been effectively dashed.

 

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