Senate Republicans left for their 10-day July 4 recess on Thursday night without a politically viable health-care plan, and it is unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be able to entice, persuade, or cajole at least 50 Republicans of his 52-member caucus to pass a health-care bill before his new deadline of mid-July, or perhaps early August. On Twitter Friday morning, President Trump jumped in with some advice: "If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!"
This was the original Republican plan, but they abandoned it earlier this year after deciding it was politically untenable. Trump was a significant player in the House GOP push to pass their health-care bill, but Senate Republicans have been mostly keeping him at arm's length, more or less openly saying they do not believe Trump understands even the basics of health-care policy.
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