Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump tells McConnell to let Senate vote on criminal justice reform The Hill's Morning Report — Presented by T-Mobile — The political currents that will drive the shutdown showdown Senate edges closer to rebuking Trump on Saudi Arabia MORE (R-Ky.) is ramping up pressure on Senate Republicans to allow healthcare reform legislation to move forward, but old antagonist Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzStrategist behind Warren's political rise to meet with O'Rourke: report Trump tells McConnell to let Senate vote on criminal justice reform Sanders to Colbert: 'You will be my vice presidential candidate!' MORE (R-Texas) is an obstacle. 
 
 McConnell on Wednesday urged colleagues to drop procedural objections to the bill, a sign that his patience is wearing thin — and that he is uncertain he can win the day. 
 
 “If we sit on our hands, families will continue to suffer. And if we let this opportunity to move beyond ObamaCare pass us by, what other options will there be?” he said in remarks from the Senate floor. 
 
 McConnell argued that if senators blocked the bill, there would be no opportunity to debate their ideas in public. 
 
 Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn John CornynSenate edges closer to rebuking Trump on Saudi Arabia Texas lawmakers introduce legislation aimed at helping border counties identify missing migrants US markets plunge after arrest of Chinese tech executive MORE (R-Texas) said his colleagues have an obligation to allow the debate to proceed and would break Senate traditions by blocking it. 
 
 “The only time I’m aware of around here that people don’t vote yes on a motion to proceed is if they don’t have an opportunity to offer amendments and get votes on them,” he said. 
 
 Their pleas, however, failed to move some members of the GOP conference. 
 
 Cruz, the runner-up in last year’s Republican presidential primary, declined to say Wednesday whether he would vote to allow the healthcare debate to begin next week. 
 
 “Depends what’s in the bill,” Cruz told reporters before heading into a lunch where lawmakers discussed the outline of the legislation. 
 
 Cruz and fellow conservative Sen. Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeSenate edges closer to rebuking Trump on Saudi Arabia Overnight Defense: GOP senators rip Saudi prince after CIA briefing | Top general says Afghan war at a stalemate | Mattis extends border mission through January | Pompeo gives Russia deadline on nuclear arms treaty Trump-GOP rift grows over Saudis MORE (R-Utah) are insisting on an amendment that would allow insurance companies to sell any kind of health plan they want as long as they offer at least one that complies with federal regulations. 
 
 Cruz was summoned to Cornyn’s office late Wednesday afternoon but a spokesman for Cornyn said it was to discuss judicial vacancies, not Cruz's concerns with the legislation. 
 
 Critics say the Cruz-Lee amendment would lead healthier people to flock to cheap, bare-bones plans, sending premiums for older and sicker people soaring. 
 
 In a document circulated on Capitol Hill, the main insurer trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, warned the Cruz-Lee amendment could lead to higher costs for those with pre-existing conditions. 
 
 Such individuals could “potentially lose access to comprehensive coverage and/or have plans that were far more expensive, as premiums in the Exchange market would rise much faster,” it said. 
 
 McConnell can afford only two defections if he is to still pass the bill, as Republicans control 52 seats. Vice President Pence would break a 50-50 tie. 
 
 Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulMeadows says 'too early to tell' if special House election should be held in North Carolina Kobach ‘very concerned’ voter fraud may have happened in North Carolina Sen. Paul must release his hold on Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act MORE (R-Ky.) is expected to oppose the bill, and many observers also believe it will be impossible to win support from Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsSenators want assurances from attorney general pick on fate of Mueller probe 5 themes to watch for in 2020 fight for House Judd Gregg: The last woman standing MORE (R-Maine). 
 
 Despite the tough odds, one GOP lawmaker who attended Wednesday’s lunch said there’s generally a “more positive feeling” that the motion to proceed to the bill will pass next week but conceded “no one stood up and said they changed their minds” to express support for the bill. 
 
 But several Republican senators left the lunch voicing frustration with McConnell’s strategy of keeping the details of the bill secret until the last minute in order to keep critics from picking it apart. 
 
 “People have asked, ‘Has [the bill] addressed concerns that you have in Alaska?’ I have no idea, so I’m not going to make any commitment to anybody that I’m going to vote for a motion to proceed,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann MurkowskiSenate advances Trump energy pick after Manchin flips The Senate must reject Bernard McNamee’s nomination for FERC Overnight Defense: Congress pauses to mourn George H.W. Bush | Haspel to brief senators on Khashoggi killing | Soldier is fourth to die from Afghan IED blast MORE (R-Alaska), who remains undecided. 
 
 In a bid to entice moderates, Cornyn promised “a substantial” increase to a $62 billion state fund designed to help low-income people with high healthcare costs afford insurance. 
 
 McConnell has scheduled a special meeting of the conference at 11:30 a.m. Thursday to discuss the detailed contents of the legislation. GOP leaders say the bill will be posted publicly sometime Thursday morning. 
 
 McConnell used this same playbook when he rolled out the first version of the Senate bill repealing and replacing major parts of ObamaCare on June 22. 
 
 But even when he unveiled the legislation in a morning meeting late last month, the discussion was limited to the bill’s broad goals and lawmakers were not given paper with detailed language. 
 
 GOP lawmakers said the leadership’s tactic of limiting information was designed to keep complaints and objections to a minimum. 
 
 Republican senators and senior aides have differing opinions on how much support there is for the Cruz-Lee proposal, but they agree it cannot pass as drafted. One GOP lawmaker predicted it would get 47 votes. A senior aide familiar with negotiations last week said it would only get 15. 
 
 Cornyn said no final decision has been made on the Cruz-Lee provision. 
 
 “The base bill will be released tomorrow morning. There’s going to be a lot of information released but I can’t speak to the exact format,” Cornyn said. 
 
 Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) are negotiating with Cruz and Lee to modify their amendment so that it could gather at least 50 votes on the floor. 
 
 Rounds, a former insurance executive, has proposed setting a ratio for how much insurers could charge people for plans meeting federal requirements versus the lower charge for cheaper, simpler plans. 
 
 He said that Cassidy has been in touch with Cruz on a “slightly different approach, but a similar concept.” 
 
 A spokesman for Cassidy did not comment. 
 
 Cruz declined to say late Wednesday whether he would accept their suggested modifications. 
 
 “We continue to have productive conversations,” he said. 
 
 Correction: 
 
 This report was updated on July 13 at 7:10 a.m. after a spokesman for Cornyn said the senator met with Cruz on Wednesday to discuss judicial vacancies. ||||| Vice President Mike Pence arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 13, 2017, to meet with lawmakers on the Republican health care bill which is under attack from within the party. (AP Photo/J.... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell released his new but still-reeling health care bill Thursday, bidding for conservative support by letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies and reaching for moderates with added billions to combat opioid abuse and help states rein in consumers' skyrocketing insurance costs. 
 
 However, allowing insurers to offer bare-bones plans threatens to alienate moderates and perhaps other conservatives. And the measure retains cuts in Medicaid — the health insurance plan for the poor, disabled and nursing home patients — that moderate Republican senators have fought. 
 
 The legislation, the Senate GOP's plan for rolling back much of President Barack Obama's health care law, faces a do-or-die vote next week on which McConnell has no margin for error. Since Democrats uniformly oppose the effort, McConnell needs the votes of 50 of the 52 GOP senators to prevail, and two seem certain to vote "no" — conservative Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. 
 
 Conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has demanded language letting insurers sell plans with minimal coverage, as long as they also sell policies that meet strict coverage requirements set by Obama's 2010 statute. Moderate Republicans have objected that the idea would make policies excessively costly for people with serious illnesses because healthy people would flock to the cheaper coverage. 
 
 Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who'd partnered with Cruz, tweeted that the version they crafted wasn't put in the bill, adding, "Something based on it has, but I have not seen it or agreed to it." 
 
 Adding to the uncertainty, the Cruz provision appeared in the legislative text in brackets, meaning specific language was still being composed. That could give McConnell, Cruz and other conservatives time to work out a provision with broader support. 
 
 The retooled measure retains McConnell's plan to phase out the extra money 31 states have used to expand Medicaid under Obama's statute, and to tightly limit the overall program's future growth. Since its creation in 1965, the program has provided open-ended federal funds to help states pay the program's costs. 
 
 The rewritten package would add $70 billion to the $112 billion McConnell originally sought that states could use to help insurers curb the growth of premiums and consumers' other out-of-pocket costs. 
 
 It has an added $45 billion for states to combat the misuse of drugs like opioids. That's a boost over the $2 billion in the initial bill and an addition demanded by ok 
 
 Republicans from states in the Midwest and Northeast that have been ravaged by the drugs. 
 
 To help pay for the added spending, the measure would retain three tax increases Obama's law slapped on higher- earning people to help finance his law's expansion of coverage. Under the current statute, families earning more than $250,000 annually got a 3.8 percent boost on their investment income tax and a 0.9 percent increase in their payroll tax. Obama also imposed a new tax on the salaries of high-paid insurance executives. 
 
 The revised bill would also allow people to use money from tax-favored health savings accounts to pay health insurance premiums, another favorite proposal of conservatives. 
 
 McConnell's new bill offered only modest departures from the original version, which he yanked off the Senate floor two weeks ago to avoid certain defeat at the hands of a broad range of unhappy Republicans. 
 
 The reworked measure's key elements remain. It would ease Obama's requirements that insurers cover specified services like hospital care, erase Obama's penalties on people who don't buy coverage and make federal health care subsidies be less generous. 
 
 In an interview Wednesday with the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club," President Donald Trump said he will be "very angry" if the Senate fails to pass the health care measure and said McConnell must "pull it off." 
 
 Paul told reporters the revised measure has nothing "remotely resembling repeal." 
 
 Collins has long complained the measure will toss millions off coverage. Spokeswoman Annie Clarke said Collins would vote "no" next week "if the Medicaid cuts remain the same" as those that have been discussed. 
 
 Besides Paul and Collins, other Republican senators have also been noncommittal on whether they will back McConnell's bill next week, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Rob Portman of Ohio. 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP reporters Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Erica Werner contributed to this report. ||||| President Donald Trump's top legislative priority was dealt a potentially fatal blow Monday night as two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the party's health care overhaul. 
 
 Trump quickly called on Republicans to simply repeal Obamacare and begin work on a new health care plan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would try to do so. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 “Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful," McConnell said. 
 
 The Kentucky Republican said he planned to hold a vote in the coming days to take up the House-passed bill to replace the 2010 health care law and then call up an amendment to eliminate major parts of Obamacare, such as the Medicaid expansion, insurance subsidies and fines for the employer and individual mandates. 
 
 Republicans passed a similar bill to effectively repeal Obamacare in 2015 under reconciliation — the fast-track budget procedure the GOP is using to thwart a Democratic filibuster — but it was vetoed by President Barack Obama. 
 
 McConnell added that the repeal-only bill is "what a majority of the Senate has already supported in 2015," but GOP lawmakers have voiced severe doubts that such a plan can win the 50 votes necessary this year given the uncertainty it would throw into insurance markets. The 2015 vote was viewed as mostly symbolic at the time, given Obama’s certain veto. 
 
 But after his own caucus tanked McConnell's attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare simultaneously and at the prodding of the president, the GOP leader is going to force his caucus to go on the record on health care. If the Senate does vote to open debate on the House bill, which is not guaranteed, the repeal-only bill would be the first amendment. But senators would still be able to offer unlimited amendments to the bill, leading the GOP down an uncertain road once the process began. 
 
 "Republicans should just 'REPEAL' failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!" Trump tweeted shortly before McConnell's statement came out. 
 
 McConnell's announcement followed the news that GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas said they could not support the current bill. They joined Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in opposition, denying GOP leaders the support to even bring the bill to the floor and upending Republicans' seven-year goal of repealing Obamacare. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is recovering from surgery, issued a statement advising the party to start over with a bipartisan approach. 
 
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 Failure to pass an Obamacare repeal could upend the entire Republican agenda. The party has spent nearly seven months on a health care overhaul, with hopes it would ease the path to tax reform. Now Trump and the GOP-led Congress are staring at an impending August recess with no major legislative achievements in hand. 
 
 At a dinner with GOP senators on Monday evening, Trump said the party would look like “dopes” if they couldn’t pass the bill after passing a repeal bill in 2015. 
 
 “If the Republicans have the House, Senate and the presidency and they can't pass this health care bill, they are going to look weak,” Trump said, according to a source familiar with the meeting. “How can we not do this after promising it for years?” 
 
 Trump had no idea defections were coming Monday night, according to another White House official with knowledge of the meeting. "Why would we have a dinner like that if we knew people were going to drop out?" the official said. 
 
 Even before Lee and Moran's announcement, there were increasingly urgent signs that the GOP's 52-seat majority was too fragile to pass the bill, which would scale back Medicaid spending and Obamacare's insurance subsidies. The vote was already delayed because of McCain's surgery, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) had fumed that McConnell had committed a "breach of trust" in selling the bill to moderates. 
 
 Still, just minutes before Moran’s and Lee's statements, aides were toiling to revise the bill so it could win the support of 50 Republican senators. 
 
 But with Collins and Paul already in opposition, the conservative Lee and typically pragmatic Moran held hands and became the deciding votes in opposition to McConnell's latest plan. 
 
 Moran criticized the closed-door process for developing the bill and criticized the legislation for not repealing the entire 2010 health care law, concluding that "We should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy." Lee said the latest bill "doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations." 
 
 Democrats, meanwhile, celebrated. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that the "second failure of Trumpcare is proof positive that the core of this bill is unworkable." 
 
 The announcement from Lee and Moran is just the latest in a long series of obstacles for the Obamacare repeal effort. McConnell pulled a vote on a previous version of the bill last month after skeptical Republicans came out against the plan. 
 
 Johnson was stunned to read in The Washington Post that McConnell was privately arguing that major reforms to Medicaid were so far in the distance that they would never take effect. Johnson said Monday that he’d confirmed through conversations with other senators that McConnell had made the remarks. 
 
 “The reported comments from Leader McConnell before last Thursday about ‘don’t worry about these Medicaid changes, they won’t take effect,’ that’s troubling to me. I have talked to senators that basically confirmed that. I’ll see what Leader McConnell says tomorrow,” Johnson said on Monday evening. “From my standpoint, it’s a pretty serious breach of trust, those comments. I’m just troubled by those comments.” 
 
 In response to Johnson's complaints, McConnell said, “I prefer to speak for myself, and my view is that the Medicaid per capita cap with a responsible growth rate that is sustainable for taxpayers is the most important long-term reform in the bill. That is why it has been in each draft we have released.” 
 
 Before Lee and Moran announced their opposition, more than a half-dozen key senators were undecided, many wavering over those cuts to Medicaid spending. 
 
 “I’m reserving judgment. I want a CBO score, analysis and we’re still doing more work on it,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). “They need more time … we’re still working on it.” 
 
 The effort stalled over the weekend as McCain's office announced the Arizona Republican, and his vote, would be away from Washington for at least a week. 
 
 GOP leaders had hoped he would return in a week and they could start work on the bill. 
 
 “We’re not going to come up short,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) had said earlier in the day. "We need a full contingent of the Republican senators. We don’t have any to spare.” 
 
 Trump had also ramped up his outreach to the Hill — hosting a handful of GOP senators at the White House dinner Monday night, including Cornyn, John Thune of South Dakota, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Steve Daines of Montana and James Lankford of Oklahoma, according to Republican aides. 
 
 Key swing-vote senators such as Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Johnson were not attending. Neither did Lee nor Moran. 
 
 And a charm offensive from the Trump administration aimed at skeptical GOP governors seemed to have little impact over the weekend. 
 
 “Governors have a large say. The reason why we’re not at 50 right now is a lot of governors don’t like what we’re doing,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is pitching them on his own plan to block grant federal health care money to the states and keep all of Obamacare’s taxes. 
 
 Several senators had also raised questions about an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), which would allow cheap plans to be sold alongside Obamacare-compliant plans that cover pre-existing conditions. Those plans’ premiums would have some subsidies, but senators were confused about whether that money would be drawn from a nearly $200 billion stabilization fund meant to woo moderates. They had hoped to use the time to further modify the bill. 
 
 But extra time cut both ways. 
 
 “The delay is what we have,” Alexander said earlier Monday. “So I don’t think we’ll know until we vote whether it’s been good or bad.” 
 
 Tara Palmeri, Josh Dawsey and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
– President Trump has warned senators that he will be "very angry" if they fail to repeal ObamaCare as promised. In an interview with televangelist Pat Robertson, the president said "a lot of people will be very upset" if Senate Republicans don't pass the legislation this summer, Politico reports. "I am sitting in the Oval Office with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me," Trump said. "It has to get passed. They have to do it. They have to get together and get it done." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is expected to present a revised version of the bill to senators Thursday morning, "has to pull it off," Trump said. "He's working very hard. He's got to pull it off." McConnell urged senators Wednesday to drop procedural objections to the bill and let a vote move forward, saying, "If we sit on our hands, families will continue to suffer," the Hill reports. McConnell can only afford to lose two Republican votes, and Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that he can't support the revised bill because it is "the same as the old bill, except it leaves in place more taxes," the Washington Post reports. McConnell also faces opposition from moderate senators and conservatives including Sen. Ted Cruz, who's pushing for an amendment that would allow insurance companies to sell plans that don't meet federal coverage requirements. (McConnell has cut the Senate recess by two weeks.)