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House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the plug on the American Health Care Act, the Republican substitute for Obamacare, with Trump's agreement after it was clear that Republicans did not have the votes to pass it.
“America dodged disaster today. This Republican meltdown marked a massive failure of governance by a reckless, irresponsible Administration and its partisan Congressional leadership,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
“Trumpcare should be finally declared dead – a demise it richly deserves. Republicans should abandon their continuing campaign to disparage and dismantle the Affordable Care Act – by executive order or otherwise – and instead build on the law and improve health care for all Americans.”
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the proposed legislation would have stripped 24 million Americans of their access to health insurance, while rolling back basic protections and raising premiums.
U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, said the concerns of voters were heard.
"In our district alone, more than 2,000 Americans sent emails and made phone calls to me to share their concerns about what this reckless and destructive proposal would mean for your families," Esty said.
"The Affordable Care Act has problems that we need to work on together to fix. But the bill GOP leaders put forward would solve none of these problems. Instead of lowering costs or improving the quality of care, this bill would force millions of Americans to pay more money for worse coverage," Esty said.
She vowed to work to fix problems in the health care system, improve access to quality health care, lower premiums, reduce out-of-pocket expenses, and bring down drug costs.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy thanked voters for stepping up to make their opposition known.
"The AHCA is dead ... for now," he said via Twitter @ChrisMurphyCT. "A reminder that there is no fear or anxiety or sadness you feel that cannot be cured by political action."
The vote was canceled due to a lack of support from both conservative and moderate Republicans, he said.
"FYI for all the focus on the Freedom Caucus, what brought down this bill were moderate Rs who bailed bc of grassroots pressure back home," Murphy said via Twitter.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, also cheered the result.
"Nobody knew kicking 24 million Americans off their health care could be so complicated? Good to see this bill pulled," she said on Twitter via @rosadelauro.
"Millions of Americans raised their voices to call on Congress to defeat #TrumpCare and today the American people have victory."
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