A stinging parliamentary defeat for Donald Trump. Republicans refuse to follow him and the vote on repealing Barack Obama's healthcare reform falls through.
Two months after Donald Trump's entry into the White House, the United States president has received his first major political "slap in the face" from the Republican Party. Friday 24 March was meant to be the day the law abolishing Obamacare was passed — that is, the healthcare reform championed by his predecessor Barack Obama, thanks to which millions of Americans have been able to access health insurance. Yet the vote collapsed at the last moment: the American administration preferred not to walk into a certain parliamentary defeat, given that a portion of conservative members of Congress had decided to turn their backs on the president.
Even in the hours leading up to the vote, Sean Spicer, the White House spokesperson, had moved to manage expectations, declaring that "Donald Trump did everything he could" to get the bill passed. Yet, despite the Republican Party enjoying a large majority in the US House of Representatives (237 members against the Democrats' 193), the numbers simply weren't there: too many had announced they would turn their backs on the president. It was therefore better to call the whole thing off and avoid an embarrassment.
Many had effectively heeded the appeal launched by Obama, in which the former occupant of the White House had spoken of "dire consequences" should the law be repealed. But some believe the problem is more "strategic" in nature: a section of the Republican Party would not have been comfortable seeing around 14 million people lose their healthcare coverage.
Hence the decision to vote "no", announced above all by the more moderate Republicans. A "weighty" choice, given that Donald Trump had placed the repeal of Obamacare at the top of his list of "urgent measures" as soon as he took office.
