title: Highlights: The Trump presidency on March 24 at 5:31 p.m. EDT
text: (Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: Trump suffers a stunning political setback in a Congress controlled by his own party when Republican leaders pull legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, a major 2016 election campaign promise of the president and his allies. Trump says the healthcare legislation he supported had been “very, very close” to getting enough support in the House of Representatives and that now he probably will move on to tax reform. Wall Street’s predilection for a glass-half-full view of Trump is on full display as investors back off fears that a failure to repeal Obamacare would endanger his entire agenda in favor of optimism that he will simply get on with tax cuts and infrastructure spending. Nearly half of American adults say the Republican healthcare reform measure that was pulled from consideration by the House is “not an improvement” over Obamacare, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The partisan divide over the House Intelligence Committee’s probe of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election deepens when the committee’s top Democrat suggested its Republican chairman canceled a public hearing after pressure from the White House. A third of Democratic senators have so far announced they will vote against confirming Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, adding to a chorus of opposition from the left, but leaving questions over whether there will be a concerted effort to block a vote in the Senate. Trump’s administration approves TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline, cheering the oil industry and angering environmentalists even as further hurdles for the controversial project loom. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says financial markets could improve “significantly” once they fully reflect the potential for economic growth from Trump’s policies. A federal judge in Virginia rules that Trump’s travel ban was justified, increasing the likelihood the measure will go before the Supreme Court as the decision takes an opposing view to courts in Maryland and Hawaii that have halted the order.  California approves vehicle pollution targets that the Trump administration last week put on hold, setting up a potential face-off between federal and state regulators that could be expensive for automakers and a headache for consumers. Trump touts Charter Communications Inc’s decision to invest $25 billion in the United States and its previously disclosed plan to hire 20,000 workers over four years. 