Washington (CNN) In a major victory for President Donald Trump, the House has voted to dismantle the pillars of the Affordable Care Act and make sweeping changes to the nation’s health care system.
The bill now heads to the Senate where it faces daunting challenges because of the same ideological splits between conservative and moderate Republicans that nearly killed it in the House.
Trump said he is confident the bill will pass the Senate, calling Obamacare “essentially dead.”
“This is a great plan. I actually think it will get even better. This is a repeal and replace of Obamacare. Make no mistake about it,” Trump said at a celebratory White House appearance with House Republicans.
After a dramatic week of negotiations, lobbying from Trump and Republican leaders, the vote ended with 217 GOP lawmakers backing the measure. Twenty Republicans opposed it, as did all House Democrats.
Trump argued the health care process has unified the GOP. “We’ve developed a bond,” he said. “This has really brought the Republican Party together.”
“As far as I’m concerned, your premiums are going to come down,” Trump said.
Democrats were unable to stop the GOP vote aimed at President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. But after the final vote was cast, they chanted “nah nah nah nah hey hey hey goodbye” to their Republican colleagues, with a few members waving, as they believe the vote will lead to many GOP lawmakers losing their seats in the November 2018 midterms.
Thursday marks a political milestone — one that has painfully eluded Trump and House leaders for months. The controversial health care bill delivered Trump the biggest political defeat of his short presidency in March, when the legislation had to be yanked from the House floor because it simply didn’t have enough support.
Under pressure from an antsy Trump looking to score a big political victory, Republican leaders tried again last week, hoping to to get to 216 votes ahead of the President’s symbolically important 100-day mark in office. That effort, too, failed.
Before the vote on the House floor, House Speaker Paul Ryan made the case that Republicans had no choice but to work to put Obamacare — what he called a “failing law” — behind them. “Let’s give people more choices and more control over their care.”
“Let’s return power from Washington to the states,” Ryan said.
“A lot of us have been waiting seven years to cast this vote.” Ryan said. Many lawmakers, he added are “here because they promised to cast this vote.”
(CNN)
