By Jacob Pramuk, CNBC–

The House of Representatives delayed its vote on repealing and replacing parts of the Affordable Care Act after Republican leaders failed to rally enough support to pass the bill, sources told CNBC.

The GOP House caucus will meet at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday to discuss its path forward, NBC News reported. House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy told CNN that House debate on the bill will start Friday morning. But a White House spokeswoman said debate will begin on Thursday night and Republicans expect to have the votes to pass it on Friday.

The postponement is a sobering setback for Republicans, who aimed to approve health-care legislation before moving to other parts of their agenda, particularly tax reform. The GOP had timed Thursday’s now-aborted vote to the seventh anniversary of the passage of the ACA, popularly known as Obamacare.

President Donald Trump met with the House Freedom Caucus for two straight days, aiming to convince the conservative group to vote to pass the plan. Members of the caucus have opposed the current replacement proposal, saying it does not go far enough to repeal Obamacare.

A Freedom Caucus source told CNBC there is “no way” a bill will pass on Friday.

Republicans have tried to assuage concerns of conservative House members without losing too many votes from moderates, and vice versa. The current plan has shown to be unpopular in early opinion polls on it, complicating matters for lawmakers.

The White House gave the House Freedom Caucus what one lawmaker called a “final offer” Thursday in its effort to win enough votes for the legislation. After the delay, Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows told reporters “We have not gotten enough of our members to get to ‘yes'” but added that “progress is being made.”

“I am still a ‘no’ at this time, I’m desperately trying to get to ‘yes’ … with all of the Freedom Caucus, they’re really trying to get to ‘yes,'” the North Carolina Republican said. He added that he expects the GOP needs “another 30 or 40 votes” to pass the bill.

Moments before reports surfaced that the vote would be delayed, Trump told trucking industry executives at the White House that “today, the House is voting to replace the disaster known as Obamacare.” Asked about the postponement reports shortly after, Trump shrugged, according to The Associated Press.

Less than three hours earlier, the White House said it still expected the vote to happen Thursday.

“It’s going to pass. So that’s it,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters when asked what would happen if the bill did not pass.

Trump and Republican leaders have made health care their top legislative priority since Trump took office with a GOP congressional majority in January. While they ran on repealing Obamacare, Republicans walk a political tightrope, as most independent estimates have shown the current GOP plan will lead to more people uninsured.

“Clearly we don’t have the votes yet, but clearly no one is walking away from the table. Not the conservatives, not the moderate, not the president. Certainly none of us are,” GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told CNBC on Thursday evening. He said he would know more about the timetable for a possible vote later on Thursday.

Trump has said the repeal and replacement of Obamacare must happen before action can be taken on his other plans, including a major tax reduction. Republicans needed 215 votes Thursday for passage.

“They don’t have the votes to pass a bill that spikes premiums, cuts coverage, raises deductibles and guts benefits?” said Andy Slavitt, who had overseen Obamacare for the Obama administration as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “I’m disappointed that they even have as many votes as they apparently do.”

Some public opinion polls have also shown that voters strongly oppose the proposal in its current form.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and John Harwood contributed to this report