Longtime GOP senator pessimistic about health bill prospects

WASHINGTON (AP) — A long-time Republican lawmaker said today he is "very pessimistic" his party will push a health care bill through the Senate, even as a colleague warned leaders about retaliation by conservative voters should they react to a collapse of the measure by striking a deal with Democrats.

The downbeat assessments came with Republican leaders aiming toward a climactic Senate vote next week on their wounded legislation erasing much of President Barack Obama's health care law. The comments highlighted the divisions that top Republicans must heal to have a shot of pushing a bill through the chamber embodying one of the GOP's top priorities.

After abruptly canceling a vote last month on an initial bill for lack of support, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been crafting changes aimed at nailing down GOP votes.

"I'm very pessimistic," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said on the Fox News Channel of the chances a bill will pass.

Grassley, first elected in 1980, said that Republicans have been promising for years to repeal Obama's 2010 statute and said, "There are consequences if you don't deliver on election promises, and there ought to be."

Over the weekend, Grassley tweeted that if Republicans don't complete a bill, "WE WILL GO FROM MAJORITY TO MINORITY."

With Democrats solidly against the effort, Republicans will lose if just three of their 52 senators oppose it. McConnell has said if the wide-ranging bill fails, he'd pursue a narrower measure aimed at propping up insurance markets – an effort that would likely require talks with Democrats.