GOP health bill on the brink hours from House showdown vote


              After eight hours of debate, House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, left, and Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the vice-chair, listen to arguments from committee chairs as the panel meets to shape the final version of the Republican health care bill before it goes to the floor for debate and a vote, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
After eight hours of debate, House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, left, and Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the vice-chair, listen to arguments from committee chairs as the panel meets to shape the final version of the Republican health care bill before it goes to the floor for debate and a vote, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican Party's long-promised legislation to repeal and replace "Obamacare" stood on the brink just hours before GOP leaders planned to put it on the House floor for a showdown vote.

Short of support, GOP leaders looked to President Donald Trump to close the deal with a crucial bloc of conservatives, in the first major legislative test of his young presidency.

The stakes could hardly be higher for a party that gained monopoly control of Washington largely on promises to get rid of former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement and replace it with something better. Now Republicans are staring at the possibility of failure at the very moment of truth.

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