US President Donald Trump has warned Republican lawmakers voters could punish them if they do not approve a plan he favours to dismantle Obamacare, as pressure grew on the businessman-turned-politician to win the first major legislative battle of his presidency.
In one of the few visits he has made to the US Capitol since taking office two months ago, Trump on Tuesday told fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives they would face "political problems" for opposing the bill that takes apart Obamacare and partially replaces it.
"The president was really clear: he laid it on the line for everybody," House Speaker Paul Ryan, the leading proponent of the bill, told reporters. "We made a promise. Now is our time to keep that promise ... If we don't keep our promise, it will be very hard to manage this."
While Republicans control both chambers of Congress, the party's leaders face a difficult task in uniting their members behind the healthcare bill, just the first of a series of reforms that Trump has promised including overhauls of the tax system and business regulations.
Some conservative lawmakers believe the healthcare bill does not go far enough, while moderate Republicans worry that millions of Americans will be hurt by dismantling the 2010 Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare legislation.
Repealing and replacing Obamacare was one of Trump's main campaign promises and has been a goal of Republicans since it was enacted.
Republican Representative Walter Jones said Trump told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that if the Republican bill does not pass, they would face "political problems".
The Congressional Budget Office said last week that 14 million people would forfeit coverage under the House bill over the next year, although that number could change based on the most current version of the legislation.
Trump, who has not offered Obamacare repeal legislation of his own, did not talk "a whole lot about the healthcare bill except to vote for it," Jones said of the president's trip to Capitol Hill.
