Republican health care bill, short of votes, is withdrawn

House Republicans, short of votes, withdrew their health care bill on Friday afternoon, just before it was supposed to go to the floor.

The bill was pulled after President Trump asked Speaker Paul Ryan to halt the debate without a vote, according to The Associated Press.

Ryan spoke with reporters on Friday afternoon. He began his remarks by hailing the president.

“The president gave his all in this effort,” Ryan said. “He’s really been fantastic.”

Ryan said Republicans would have done Democrats a favor by passing this bill, because “Obamacare is a law that is collapsing. It’s hurting families.”

But ultimately, he said, he learned of a group of no-votes that would have prevented the bill from passing. Part of that is because Republicans have been a contrarian party for nearly a decade, he said, used to fighting the status quo.

In just three months, he said, the party has become “a governing party where we have to get people to agree on this. We just weren’t quite there today.”

In Washington state, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler was the only Republican lawmaker who said she opposed the bill in its current form. Rep. Dave Reichert of Auburn was noncommittal in a statement made by his spokesman to KUOW on Thursday.

"I think the president has given it his all," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters earlier, according to the AP. "The speaker has done everything he can. You can't force people to vote."