President Donald Trump carefully avoided becoming too heavily involved in the push for the Republican healthcare bill because a delay in the Senate vote was always considered likely, The Hill reported.
"They don't want to put the president's capital in jeopardy if the bill is not going to go anywhere," one GOP strategist with close ties to the White House told the website.
"You want to put the president in a position to get credit for victory, not blame for defeat or delay."
The source insisted that a delay was always likely in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.
While still trying to convince some concerned Republican lawmakers to support the bill, Trump's political allies said he was never going to get into the fine details of the legislative language, The Hill reported.
"The biggest issue is just to let the process play out," said Sam Nunberg, who worked as an aide on Trump's presidential campaign. "Sometimes you don't want to be too overbearing. You are not legislator in chief, you're commander in chief."
Tuesday's decision to delay the vote "came amid deep GOP discontent with the proposed legislation," The Hill reported. Five Republican senators indicated they would not proceed to a debate on the proposed legislation, according to the website.
Trump met with GOP senators following the decision to delay the vote.
"The president's been very involved over the last week talking to members individually," Senate Majority Leader McConnell, R-Ky., said. "He wanted to talk to all of us together today; I think that's helpful.
"We always anticipated the president would be very important to getting us to a conclusion," he added. "In the earlier stages it would have, candidly, been a waste of his time."
Still, McConnell's decision to delay the vote took some of his Republican colleagues by surprise, Politico reported.
"It's different from what he said … yesterday afternoon as late as 5:30 p.m.," one Republican senator said on Tuesday.
McConnell told Republican senators his goal is to revise the bill and hold a vote soon after the July 4 recess, according to Politico.
But Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said: "Tinkering isn't going to work, from my perspective. There would have to be a major overhaul of the bill … to win my support."
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