--- title: AHCA: GOP Pulls Health Care Bill Due to Lack of Support description: Republican lawmakers on Friday pulled the healthcare reform bill that had been presented to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act canonical: https://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-24T19:48:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T10:20:44.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: House Republicans Withdraw Health Care Bill Due to Lack of Support og:description: They didn't have the votes og:url: https://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d420ede08e0f1f7/6988bfd3f887dc6e05e99923/ryan-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: House Republicans Postpone Vote On American Health Care Act og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: House Republicans Withdraw Health Care Bill Due to Lack of Support twitter:description: They didn't have the votes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d420ede08e0f1f7/6988bfd3f887dc6e05e99923/ryan-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House Republicans Withdraw Health Care Bill Due to Lack of Support > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:20 AM UTCPublished: Mar 24, 2017 7:48 PM UTC  Paul Ryan departs after speaking to the media after a Republican caucus meeting on Capitol Hill, on March 23, 2017, in Washington. Paul Ryan departs after speaking to the media after a Republican caucus meeting on Capitol Hill, on March 23, 2017, in Washington. Win McNamee—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:20 AM UTCPublished: Mar 24, 2017 7:48 PM UTC Republican lawmakers on Friday pulled the health care reform bill they had presented as a [replacement for the Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4697086/threat-of-obamacare-repeal-motivates-patients-to-become-activists/), abandoning the plan after it became clear they lacked the [votes for it to pass](http://time.com/4712627/ahca-republicans-fall-short-votes/). “Obamacare is the law of the land. It’s going to remain the law of the land until it’s replaced,” Republican House Speaker [Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4706242/paul-ryan-health-care-compromise/) said at a press conference Friday afternoon, admitting that Republicans had —at least temporarily — tabled their long-held campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” Ryan affirmed his support for the failed bill, calling it a “dramatic improvement in our healthcare system,” but he said that, lacking consensus, he felt the best step was to withdraw the bill and figure out what else could be done. “This is a setback — no two ways about it — but it is not the end of this story,” Ryan said. Ryan visited the White House on Friday to tell Trump he lacked the votes to pass the controversial bill, which faced opposition from Democrats as well as many Republicans and health organizations. Trump issued an ultimatum to Republicans on Thursday, warning that they needed to pass their healthcare plan now or he would move on to other policy priorities. “We just pulled it,” Trump said in a telephone interview Friday with the [Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-leaders-prepare-to-vote-friday-on-health-care-reform/2017/03/24/736f1cd6-1081-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Fhp-banner-main%5Fhousevote715a-banner%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm%5Fterm=.57e799cdd086), adding that he didn’t blame Ryan. In an interview with the [New York _Times_](https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/845362688557486081), Trump faulted Democrats for the bill’s failure. Trump said he expects Democrats will seek a healthcare reform deal within a year when “Obamacare explodes” because of higher premiums, according to the _Times._ At Friday’s press conference, Ryan issued a similar warning. “What’s really troubling is the worst is yet to come with Obamacare,” he said. But Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hailed the announcement as “a victory for the American people.” Asked whether the healthcare failure is a sign of future problems awaiting the Republican Party, Ryan said he was confident Republicans would be able to generate consensus around other issues in their agenda, specifically identifying border security, military strength and tax reform. “Yes, this does make tax reform more difficult, but it does not make it impossible,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/"},"headline":"House Republicans Withdraw Health Care Bill Due to Lack of Support","datePublished":"2017-03-24T19:48:57.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T10:20:44.000Z","description":"They didn't have the votes","url":"https://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/","keywords":["Congress","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d420ede08e0f1f7/6988bfd3f887dc6e05e99923/ryan-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d420ede08e0f1f7/6988bfd3f887dc6e05e99923/ryan-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"House Republicans Postpone Vote On American Health Care Act","caption":"House Republicans Postpone Vote On American Health Care Act","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/","name":"House Republicans Withdraw Health Care Bill Due to Lack of Support"}}]}] ```