President Donald Trump may be a great deal maker when it comes to business, but he is finding making deals with Congress is something else entirely. He and House Speaker Paul Ryan are finding that out in trying to get a vote on the American Health Care Act, which is supposed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Trying to get 241 Republicans to agree on anything is like herding cats. The conservatives want one thing on the care act, the moderates want something else, and the more you try to appeal the one, the more you repel the others.

It is especially difficult in dealing with the ACA, which Republicans have been trying to repeal for the past ten years. Repealing is one thing, but replacing it is another. A lot of people are getting used to the idea of having health insurance. The plan that Republicans are trying to pass will leave about 24 milllion uncovered over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office analysis.

The bill will also slash Medicaid, which provides health care for poor, elderly and disabled.

This is not an appealing bill for a number of reasons. Conservatives in the House think it doesn’t go aar enough and want to cut out even more of the popular components of Obamacare. Doing that puts off the other members of the party who see the political dangers of alienating millions of voters.

A vote that was supposed to take place on Thursday in the House was postponed because Republicans didn’t have the votes to pass it, in spite of intense persuasion from Ryan and Trump.

Republicans need to take the time to do the job right. They need to come up with a plan which, if not better than Obamacare, will at least preserve the parts that are working and fix the parts that aren’t. It may take a couple of months, or six months, or a year, but Republicans need to hammer out a plan we can all agree on.