House Republican leadership pulled the American Health Care Act from the chamber floor Friday, after it became apparent it did not have the necessary party consensus to pass. The bill, which was drafted by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and backed by President Trump, was Republicans' first attempt at realizing their nearly decade-long promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
While former President Barack Obama was in office, Republican lawmakers repeatedly passed bills calling for the repeal of his signature Affordable Care Act, only to have the Democratic president veto that legislation when it arrived on his desk. With the government currently 100 percent controlled by the GOP, some reporters asked after the bill failed Friday why Republicans had been able to pass countless measures under Obama, but not one under a Republican president who might actually sign their bills into law — and Texas Rep. Joe Barton (R) offered a shockingly frank answer:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 8, 2025Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - divine retribution, ChatGPT in Congress, and more
-
Titus Andronicus: a 'beautiful, blood-soaked nightmare'The Week Recommends Max Webster's staging of Shakespeare's tragedy 'glitters with poetic richness'
-
The Alienation Effect: a 'compelling' study of the émigrés who reshaped postwar BritainThe Week Recommends Owen Hatherley's 'monumental' study is brimming with 'extraordinary revelations'
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop banspeed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff ideaspeed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitutionspeed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 lawspeed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN rolespeed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contractionspeed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump says he could bring back Ábrego García but won'tSpeed Read At a rally to mark his 100th day in office, the president doubled down on his unpopular immigration and economic policies
