--- title: Donald Trump: Healthcare Bill Failure is Democrats' Fault description: President Trump blamed Democrats on Friday for the failure of the GOP healthcare bill that would have replaced the Affordable Care Act canonical: https://time.com/4713021/donald-trump-republican-ahca-failure-democrats/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-24T21:38:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:26:00.875Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump: It's the Democrats' Fault the Health Care Bill Failed og:description: He predicted Democrats would work with Republicans after "Obamacare explodes" og:url: https://time.com/4713021/donald-trump-republican-ahca-failure-democrats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1444bcec34b9790/6988bfe486f68e2ac86e3fcc/donald-trump-gop-healthcare-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Trump Speaks After House GOP Pulls Vote On American Health Care Act og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump: It's the Democrats' Fault the Health Care Bill Failed twitter:description: He predicted Democrats would work with Republicans after "Obamacare explodes" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1444bcec34b9790/6988bfe486f68e2ac86e3fcc/donald-trump-gop-healthcare-bill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump: It's the Democrats' Fault the Health Care Bill Failed > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ad1ec5fa-d5e4-4ee5-b774-2bfd039c50c4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump: It's the Democrats' Fault the Health Care Bill Failed [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump: It's the Democrats' Fault the Health Care Bill Failed](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ySPMTcST.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2017-03-24. President Donald Trump blamed Democrats on Friday for the failure of the GOP health care bill that would have replaced the Affordable Care Act._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 24, 2017 9:38 PM UTC President Donald Trump blamed Democrats on Friday for the failure of the GOP health care bill that would have replaced the Affordable Care Act.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 24, 2017 9:38 PM UTC President Donald Trump blamed Democrats on Friday for the [failure of the GOP health care bill](http://time.com/4712883/ahca-paul-ryan-donald-trump-no-vote-obamacare/?xid=homepage) that would have [replaced the Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4697086/threat-of-obamacare-repeal-motivates-patients-to-become-activists/). House Republicans withdrew the bill on Friday after it became clear they [lacked the votes](http://time.com/4712627/ahca-republicans-fall-short-votes/) for it to pass, a development that served a major setback to their consistent promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The GOP has majorities in both the House and Senate. “Perhaps the best thing that could happen is exactly what happened today because we’ll end up with a truly great health care bill in the future after this mess known as Obamacare explodes,” Trump said Friday afternoon, speaking from the Oval Office. He predicted that Democrats would look to work with Republicans on health care reform in the future, even as Democratic lawmakers celebrated the failure of the Republican plan. “Whenever they’re ready, we’re ready,” Trump said, repeatedly arguing that “with no Democrat support, we couldn’t quite get there.” The bill also faced opposition from many Republicans and health organizations. In an earlier press conference on Friday, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan explained that the GOP-controlled House was unable to reach consensus on the controversial bill. “This is a setback — no two ways about it — but it is not the end of this story,” Ryan said. Trump said he still had confidence in Ryan and refrained from casting blame on Republicans who had withheld their support. “A lot of people don’t realize don’t how good our bill was,” Trump said, arguing that when taken as a three-phase plan, “it became a great bill.” ## Transcript Pass the bill in the house without any democratic support. Why do you think you are enable to craft to deal among the republican part? Well, we were very close. We were just probably anywhere from 10 to 15 votes short. Could've of even been closer than that, you'll never know because you never know how they vote. But in the end, I think we would've been ten votes, maybe closer. And it's very hard to get almost 100 %. You're talking about a very, very large number of votes among any group. We were very close to doing it. But when you get no votes from the other side, meaning the Democrats, it's really a difficult situation. Will you reach out to Democrats now? No I think we have to let Obamacare go it's way for a little while, and we'll see how things go. I'd love to see it do well, but it can't, I mean it can't. It's not a question of gee I hope it does well, I would love it to do well. I want great healthcare for people of this nation, but it can't do well. It's imploding, and soon will explode. And it's not gonna be pretty. So the Democrats don't want to see that. So they're gonna reach out when they're ready. And whenever they're ready, we're ready. And I never said, I guess I'm here, what, 64 days, I never said repeal and replace Obamacare. You've all heard my speeches. I never said repeal it and replace it within 64 days. I have a long time But I wanna have a great healthcare bill and plan and we will. It will happen . And it won't be in the very distant future. I really believe that with some Democrat support, that will happen and it will be an even better bill. I think this was a very good bill. I think it will be even better The next time around. 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