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		</div><p>US president Donald Trump has abandoned negotiations and demanded a make-or-break decision on health care, threatening to leave &#8220;Obamacare&#8221; in place and move on to other issues if Friday&#8217;s vote fails.</p>
<p>The risky move, part gamble and part threat, was presented to Republican politicians behind closed doors on Thursday night after a long and intense day that saw a planned vote on the health care bill scrapped as the legislation remained short of votes amid cascading negotiations among conservatives, moderates and others.</p>
<p>At the end, the president had had enough and was ready to vote and move on, whatever the result, Mr Trump&#8217;s budget director Mick Mulvaney told House of Representatives members.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8216;Negotiations are over, we&#8217;d like to vote tomorrow and let&#8217;s get this done for the American people&#8217;. That was it,&#8221; congressman Duncan Hunter of California said as he left the meeting, summarising Mr Mulvaney&#8217;s message. &#8220;Let&#8217;s vote,&#8221; White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said as he walked out.</p>
<p>&#8220;For seven and a half years we have been promising the American people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it&#8217;s collapsing and it&#8217;s failing families, and tomorrow we&#8217;re proceeding,&#8221; House speaker Paul Ryan said, then walked off without answering as reporters demanded to know whether the bill had the votes to pass.</p>
<p>The outcome of Friday&#8217;s vote is impossible to predict. Both conservatives and moderates had claimed the bill lacked votes after a long day of talks. But the White House appeared ready to gamble that the prospect of failing to repeal former president Barack Obama&#8217;s Affordable Care Act health law, after seven years of promising to do exactly that, would force members into the Yes column.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s done tomorrow. Or Obamacare stays,&#8221; said Chris Collins, a top Trump ally in the House.<br />
Mr Collins was among those predicting success on Friday, but others did not hide their anxiety about the outcome.</p>
<p>Asked whether Republicans would be unified on Friday&#8217;s vote, freshman Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida said: &#8220;I sure hope so or we&#8217;ll have the opportunity to watch a unified Democratic caucus impeach Donald Trump in two years when we lose the majority.&#8221;</p>
<p>Thursday&#8217;s manoeuvres added up to high drama on Capitol Hill, but Friday promised even more suspense with the prospect of leadership putting a major bill on the floor uncertain about whether it would pass or fail.</p>
<p>The Republican legislation would halt Mr Obama&#8217;s tax penalties against people who do not buy coverage and cut the government Medicaid programme for low earners, which the Obama statute had expanded.</p>
<p>It would provide tax credits to help people pay medical bills, though generally skimpier than Mr Obama&#8217;s statute provides. It also would allow insurers to charge older Americans more and repeal tax boosts the law imposed on high-income people and health industry companies.</p>
<p>The measure would also block national payments to Planned Parenthood for a year, another stumbling block for Republican moderates.</p>
<p>In a concession to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, many of whose members have withheld support, the legislation would repeal requirements for insurers to cover &#8220;essential health benefits&#8221; such as maternity care and substance abuse treatment.</p>
<p>The drama unfolded seven years to the day after Mr Obama signed his landmark law, an anniversary Republican leaders meant to celebrate with a vote to undo the divisive legislation.</p>
<p>Obamacare gave birth to the tea party movement and helped Republicans win and keep control of Congress and then take the White House.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the final analysis, this bill falls short,&#8221; Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state said as she became the latest rank-and-file Republican, normally loyal to leadership, to declare her opposition.<br />
&#8220;The difficulties this bill would create for millions of children were left unaddressed,&#8221; she said, citing the unravelling of Medicaid.</p>
<p>In a danger sign for Republicans, a Quinnipiac University poll found that people disapprove of the Republican legislation by 56% to 17%, with 26% undecided.</p>
<p>Mr Trump&#8217;s handling of health care was viewed unfavourably by six in 10. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who as speaker was Mr Obama&#8217;s crucial lieutenant in passing the Democratic bill in the first place, could not resist a dig at the Republican disarray.</p>
<p>&#8220;You may be a great negotiator,&#8221; she said of Mr Trump. &#8220;Rookie&#8217;s error for bringing this up on a day when clearly you&#8217;re not ready.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Obama declared in a statement that &#8220;America is stronger&#8221; because of the current law and said Democrats must make sure &#8220;any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hard-working Americans&#8221;.<br />
Mr Trump tweeted to supporters: &#8220;Go with our plan! Call your Rep &#038; let them know.&#8221;</p>
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