Senate Republicans want to move on from health bill

WASHINGTON — Leading Senate Republicans said Monday it was time to move from health care to other issues, saying they saw no fresh pathway to the votes needed to reverse last week’s collapse of their effort to repeal and rewrite the Obama health care law.

“For now, until we have a path forward that gets us 50 votes in the Senate, we’ve got other things to do and we’re going to start turning to those,” No. 3 Senate GOP leader John Thune told reporters.

“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. “See if we can’t put some wins on the board” on bills revamping the tax system and building public works projects, he said.

The lawmakers spoke after last week’s crash of the GOP’S drive to tear down President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law and replace it with their vision of more limited federal programs.

No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas signaled pique at White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, who pushed senators in weekend TV appearances to keep voting on health care until they succeed.

Mulvaney has “got a big job, he ought to do that job and let us do our jobs,” Cornyn said. He also said of the former House member, “I don’t think he’s got much experience in the Senate, as I recall.”