Trump Reacts To The Demise Of His Beloved Health Care Bill

The GOP Senate's effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act seemingly came to a halt on Monday night after Sens. Mike Lee and Jerry Moran announced that they would not be voting in favor of the party's proposed bill. President Trump reacted to the apparent death of Trumpcare early on Tuesday.

"We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans," he tweeted. "Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return! As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!"

Hours later, he returned to the platform to press his followers on the importance of there being a higher number of Republicans in the Senate. "With only a very small majority, the Republicans in the House & Senate need more victories next year since Dems totally obstruct, no votes!" he wrote. "The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!"

News of the bill's current "death" comes as a major blow to the Trump administration. Repealing and replacing Obamacare was one of the president's most prominently featured campaign promises during the 2016 election. In February 2016, Trump tweeted, "We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare - and nobody can do that like me. We will save $'s and have much better healthcare!"

Contrary to the president's tweet stating that he has "always said" Congress should come together after letting Obamacare "fail," he insisted in January during a 60 Minutes interview that Americans would not have to face a period in which his predecessor's health plan ceased to exist without a new plan being enacted.

"It'll be repeal and replace. It will be essentially, simultaneously," he said. "It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably, the same day, could be the same hour."

He made the same promise in January as president-elect. "We're going to do it simultaneously," he said. "It'll be just fine. We're not going to have, like, a two-day period, and we're not going to have a two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced."

Among the American public, the plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replacing it in the future is deeply unpopular — a January survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that only 20 percent of Americans approved of the idea.