WASHINGTON – Top Senate Republicans think it’s time to leave their derailed drive to scrap the Obama health care law behind them. And they’re tired of the White House prodding them to keep voting until they succeed.
Several GOP leaders said Monday that at least for now, they saw no clear route to the 50 votes they’d need to get something – anything – recasting President Barack Obama’s health care statute through the Senate. Their drive crashed with three disastrous Senate votes last week, and their mood didn’t improve after a weekend of tweets by President Donald Trump saying they “look like fools” and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney using TV appearances to say they should continue voting.
Mulvaney has “got a big job, he ought to do that job and let us do our jobs,” No. 2 Senate GOP John Cornyn of Texas said. He also said of the former House member, “I don’t think he’s got much experience in the Senate, as I recall.”
“It’s time to move onto something else, come back to health care when we’ve had more time to get beyond the moment we’re in,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, another member of the GOP leadership. Asked about threats by conservative groups to attack GOP lawmakers who abandon the fight, Blunt said, “Lots of threats.”
While the leaders stopped short of saying they were surrendering on an issue that’s guided the party for seven years, their remarks underscored that Republicans have hit a wall when it comes to resolving internal battles over what their stance should be.