Trump’s promise to repeal Obamacare is now in limbo

President Donald Trump expressed disappointment after Republican lawmakers' failure to muster enough votes to repeal Obamacare placed one of his loftiest campaign promises in limbo.

A series of defections by Senate Republicans scuttled two separate efforts to dismantle the sweeping U.S. health care law put in place by Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama.

"We've had a lot of victories, but we haven't had a victory on health care," Trump told reporters July 18, as it became clear the latest Republican legislative efforts would fail. "We're disappointed."

A slim margin of error constrained GOP efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare and forced a delicate balancing act between the party's conservative and moderate members.

But defections by Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Lee of Utah on July 17 brought to four the number of Republican senators to publicly oppose the bill (along with Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky), effectively killing the repeal-and-replace plan. Senate leadership could only afford to lose two Republican votes for passage.

Senate Republicans then turned their attention to a measure that would repeal major parts of Obamacare over two years, in theory buying lawmakers enough time to agree on a replacement plan before the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, was largely dismantled.

That too failed after three Republican senators ― Collins, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska ― said they could not vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan agreed to in advance.

"I did not come to Washington to hurt people," Capito said in a statement. "I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conceded he did not have the votes to pass the replacement bill. But he promised there would be a vote on repeal "in the very near future."

However, it remains to be seen whether Republicans will be able to generate the necessary support to repeal the law. For that reason, we're moving our rating of Trump's promise to repeal Obamacare to Stalled.