Members see House following Senate lead

WASHINGTON — By most measures, Republicans face a nearly impossible task of finding enough votes to pass their long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act through a Senate that seems irreconcilably divided.

Yet by one measure, Republicans have never been closer to actually repealing large chunks of what they dismiss as “Obamacare.” Within two short weeks, the GOP will probably either be reveling in its unexpected victory or mired in deep infighting over the party’s failure to live up to a pledge it has made over the past seven years.

Some Republicans remain optimistic, and Democrats fearful, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) can pull off the negotiating tricks necessary, but he still faces an uphill fight in winning the votes to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act by his tentative deadline of Friday.

If McConnell can make it happen, House Republicans seem ready to quickly pass the Senate version of the legislation and send it to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

At least that’s the assessment of two key House negotiators, one from the conservative and one from the moderate flank.

“I have no doubt in my mind that if it passes the Senate — in something close to what it’s like now — that it will pass the House,” said Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., a moderate.

His conservative counterpart, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., called the latest Senate version “a step in the right direction” and suggested it would “have to be a big move” away from the current draft to sink the bill in the House. Either way, he said, conservatives will not object if House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., takes the Senate bill and places it on the House floor.