US Senate rejects President Trump’s attempt to overhaul Obamacare

On a day that promised to be long cots were delivered Thursday to senators’ hideaways just off the Senate floor before votes on the health-care bill. (Washington Post/Melina Mara) 

 By Juliet Eilperin, Kelsey Snell, Sean Sullivan ·   
(c) 2017, The Washington Post · Jul 28, 2017 - WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans suffered a dramatic failure early Friday in their bid to advance a scaled-back plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), throwing into question whether they can actually repeal the 2010 health law.   

Their latest effort to redraw the ACA failed after Sen. John McCain’s decision to side with a couple other Republicans against President Trump and GOP leaders. The Arizona Republican, diagnosed with brain cancer last week, returned to Washington Tuesday and delivered a stirring address calling for a bipartisan approach to overhauling the ACA, a process that may have compelled McCain to cast his rebellious vote.   

The vote was 49 to 51.   
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had hoped to approve the new, narrower rewrite of the health law at some point Friday, after facing dozens amendments from Democrats. But the GOP defections left McConnell without a clear bill to push.