UPDATE | Facing defections, Senate GOP leaders delay health care vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a bruising setback, Senate Republican leaders are delaying a vote on their prized health care bill until after the July 4 recess, forced to retreat by a GOP rebellion that left them lacking enough votes to even begin debating the legislation, two sources said Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., delivered the message to GOP senators at a private lunch also attended by Vice President Mike Pence and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. The decision was described by a Republican aide and another informed person who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the closed-door decision.

All GOP senators were planning to travel to the White House later Tuesday to meet with President Donald Trump, one source said.

McConnell had hoped to push the measure through his chamber by this week’s end, before an Independence Day recess that party leaders fear will be used by foes of the legislation to tear away support.

The bill rolling back much of President Barack Obama’s health care law has been one of the party’s top priorities for years, and the delay is a major embarrassment to Trump and McConnell. At least five GOP senators — conservatives and moderates — had said they would vote against beginning debate, and the bill would be derailed if just three of the 52 Republican senators vote against it.

GOP defections have built after Congress’ nonpartisan budget referee said Monday that their measure would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026 than Obama’s 2010 statute.

Utah’s Mike Lee became the fifth Republican senator to oppose letting the chamber formally begin considering the proposal.

Lee was among four conservatives who announced last week that they were against the current version of the legislation. His spokesman, Conn Carroll, said Tuesday that Lee would not vote to commence debate on the bill “as it is currently written.”

“I would not bet against Mitch McConnell,” his House counterpart, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. But the Senate was convening later than usual Tuesday, and it soon became clear the votes weren’t there even to begin debate.

The CBO analysis suggested some ammunition GOP leaders could use, saying the Senate bill would cut federal deficits by $202 billion more over the coming decade than the version the House approved in May. Senate leaders could use some of those additional savings to attract moderate votes by making Medicaid and other provisions more generous, though conservatives would rather use that money to reduce red ink.

Minutes after the CBO report’s release, three GOP senators threatened to oppose beginning debate. Moderate Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would vote no. She tweeted that she favors a bipartisan effort to fix Obama’s statute but added, “CBO analysis shows Senate bill won’t do it.”