US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump in the wake of failure to keep his campaign promise of repealing and replacing the Obamacare.
The former Indiana governor appeared before supporters of the president in West Virginia on Saturday, asserting that Trump "won't rest until we repeal and replace ObamaCare."
Destroying former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law has been one of the New York billionaire’s key campaign pledges.
However, the Republicans’ healthcare reform bill, the American Health Care Act, was pulled from consideration in the US House of Representatives due to dwindling support among Republicans, serving as a major blow to Trump.
He had also promised to confront the US establishment as an outsider and make the “best deals” for the United States.
Pence defended Trump’s move, asserting that the failure was due to Democrats and a "handful" of Republicans, adding that US "Congress wasn't ready.”
"Every day Obamacare survives is another day that America suffers," he said. "I promise you, that victory won't last long. The American people want ObamaCare gone."
The president himself has blamed Democratic lawmakers as well as some Republicans, including the top one, House Speaker Paul Ryan.
"We are going to be living with ObamaCare for the foreseeable future," said Ryan, a Republican lawmaker from Wisconsin, at a news conference earlier. “I spoke to the president a little while ago and I told him the best thing I think to do was to pull this bill and he agreed with that. I will not sugar coat this, this is a disappointing day for us. Doing big things is hard.”