(CNN) Vice President Mike Pence vowed to continue to press for the repeal and replacement of Obamacare on Friday night, telling a group of conservative students in Washington that the effort "ain't over by a long shot."

"My fellow conservatives, let me be clear. This ain't over. This ain't over by a long shot," Pence said. "And President Trump and I are absolutely committed to keep our promise to the American people. We were not elected to save Obamacare -- we were elected to repeal and replace it."

Pence was speaking at Young America's Foundation's annual National Conservative Student Conference a little over a week after the Republican-led Obamacare replacement proposal failed in dramatic fashion in the Senate.

Hours before Pence's speech, President Trump had left the nation's capital for a 17-day working vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Senate had left for its August recess.

Yet the vice president assured the conservative audience that the GOP's seven-year campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act would continue.

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