For Republicans on Capitol Hill, Donald Trump may finally have gone too far. 
 
 Tuesday’s report that Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to end the criminal investigation into ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn was more than just another embarrassing revelation for a president used to a near-daily barrage of scandal and staff intrigue. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Republicans are privately beginning to worry that they may one day have to sit in judgment of Trump, or that more damaging information from Comey could force the president to step down. Within hours of Tuesday's report by The New York Times, there was a distinct shift among congressional Republicans, who until now have mostly resisted criticizing Trump, let alone demanding the president be held to account for all he says or does. 
 
 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) immediately said he’s prepared to subpoena the memos that Comey reportedly wrote contemporaneously to document his interactions with Trump. Chaffetz sent a letter to the FBI on Tuesday night asking for any notes, documents or records of Trump and Comey’s conversations to be turned over to his panel by May 24. 
 
 His request was echoed by AshLee Strong, spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan: "We need to have all the facts, and it is appropriate for the House Oversight Committee to request this memo." 
 
 Comey has also been invited by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to testify publicly at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to “tell his side of the story” about his dealings with Trump, Graham said Tuesday, even before this latest story broke. 
 
 More Republicans have openly discussed the possibility of a select committee or the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the Trump-Russia connection. It's still a minority of GOP lawmakers, but Republican leaders are watching closely. 
 
 The White House vehemently denied the New York Times report, and Trump has defended his firing of Comey and reported disclosure of classified information to Russian officials. 
 
 Not since October’s “Access Hollywood” moment — when many Republicans believed Trump would have to drop out of the race over his hugely offensive comments about women — has the president faced such a serious political threat. Even conservatives from districts that Trump won overwhelmingly in November want to find out what occurred between the president and Comey, no matter how damaging it may be to Trump. This is a dramatic turn for the party that's been whiplashed by Trump’s drama since his first day as a candidate in June 2015 yet has still stuck with him. 
 
 “It is important to get to the bottom of it,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the Freedom Caucus. Meadows was last seen celebrating passage of the House GOP health care bill in the Rose Garden with Trump and dozens of his Republican colleagues. “We've got one standard, and we need to make sure that applies to everybody.” 
 
 Top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway met with the Freedom Caucus on Tuesday night and would not say afterward what they discussed. Meadows insisted the Comey matter did not come up, but he told reporters that he intends, through his role on the Oversight Committee, to help get to the bottom of what happened. And he expects cooperation from the White House. 
 
 “If this is legitimately something that there was some kind of influence or pressure from Comey doing his work, I’m going to be very disappointed," added Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee. 
 
 In private, top Republicans fear that this latest Trump controversy — coming just a week after he fired Comey, and only one day after it was revealed that the president revealed highly classified intelligence information during a meeting with Russian officials — will overwhelm everything they are trying to do legislatively. Health care, tax reform, building up the Pentagon — all of it is potentially threatened by the latest furor. 
 
 And if Republicans are paralyzed and can’t pass anything despite control of the White House and Congress, how can they justify their majorities when they go before voters next year? 
 
 Sen. Lindsay Graham listens as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse holds up a copy of "The Kremlin Playbook" at a hearing of the Senate Judicary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Capitol Hill on May 8. | Getty 
 
 “I don’t think we can just shrug our shoulders and walk away from this one,” said a top House Republican, who asked not to be named. “I don’t know where this goes.” 
 
 What is most worrying for congressional Republicans is how easy this latest episode is to explain to the public — Trump reportedly tried to interfere with a criminal investigation by the FBI but was rebuffed, then fired Comey — and thus fodder for endless cable TV coverage. That could spur moderate Republicans in swing districts, already nervous about 2018, to openly break with Trump. 
 
 “If these allegations are true, it’s deeply troubling and it certainly opens up a new chapter that all of us have to consider very carefully,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) outside the House chamber Tuesday night. "We need to get to the truth as soon as possible. This weekly scandal, this weekly controversy is unhealthy for the country. It’s a major distraction for the country and it’s just bad for the psyche of every American.” 
 
 “I hope Director Comey testifies before Congress as soon as possible,” said Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.), who earlier broke with Trump and his own leadership over health care reform legislation. 
 
 Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. 
 
 "Congress needs to see the Comey memo," Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tweeted late Tuesday night. 
 
 Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), a former federal prosecutor, suggested Trump’s interactions with Comey threatened the public perception of the Justice Department as an autonomous entity. 
 
 “This whole process is very difficult because we are seeing the central institution — the Justice Department, and the independence of the Justice Department — stretched. And people want to have confidence in the independence of [DOJ’s] activities,” Meehan said. “I’m hoping that throughout this long process, it can get back into a place where there could be confidence in the ability of the institutions to do their work.” 
 
 Kyle Cheney contributed to this report. ||||| The controversy over President Donald Trump's abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey has threatened to slow or even stall Republicans’ policy agenda on Capitol Hill. Already facing Democratic opposition on some of their top priorities, Republicans insist the matter won't derail them but it's already proven to be a distraction at the very least. 
 
 As the week began, Senate Republicans were focused on health care after the House narrowly passed its version of legislation to overhaul Obamacare. By Friday, health care, tax reform and other top GOP priorities had been shoved off the front-burner, at least momentarily, by the abrupt firing of Comey and new questions about the future of investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 
 
 Play Facebook 
 
 Twitter 
 
 Embed Trump under fire over 'tapes' threat as White House searches for new FBI director 3:03 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
 
 Comey’s ouster means that the Senate will have to confirm a new director to replace him, a process that has already shown signs of controversy as Democrats are demanding more answers about the timing of the firing and the FBI’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. 
 
 A host of Democrats have said that they won’t consider a new replacement to lead the FBI until a special counsel has been appointed to oversee that investigation, which Comey was leading. 
 
 “Frankly we should hold off on the FBI director until we get this special prosecutor,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, indicating that he would try to slow down or block the confirmation of any FBI director. 
 
 The bombshell that shook Washington this week has further strained a slow-moving Senate schedule that is void of any major legislative achievement. For the first months of this year, the upper chamber has been consumed with processing Trump's nominees — including the successful confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch — as well as GOP-backed Congressional Review Act measures to roll-back regulation from the Obama administration. 
 
 The Senate has moved slowly, in part because of its rules, but also because Democrats have opposed the GOP's agenda. 
 
 That's why one GOP senate aide sees little impact of the Comey firing. “The Democrats were already opposing everything all the time. Unless you are Spinal Tap you can’t really turn the opposition volume from 10 to 11,” the aide said. 
 
 Senate Republicans began the Congressional year with a long to-do list, but it has been shrunk to accommodate the realities of governing in a partisan environment. They still, however, are working to pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and a reform of the tax system before the end of the fiscal year in September — two major pieces of legislation that don’t need the support of Republicans because of a budget mechanism Republicans plan on using. 
 
 Democrats say that go-it-alone approach increases the prospects of any gridlock that grips the Senate. 
 
 “I think we need to move ahead as much as possible to get things done for the American people. ... But trust is very, very difficult when the administration is trashing the oath of law,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters this week. 
 
 Democrats successfully held up a days’ worth of hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, the morning after Comey’s firing, which is just one example of how they can slow down the process on Capitol Hill. 
 
 Republicans insist that little has changed. A group of 13 senators have been plotting a way forward on health care, holding two meetings this week and the entire Republican conference spent much of their time on the subject at two lunches. 
 
 For instance, they held their regularly scheduled lunch on Wednesday that lasted for nearly an hour-and-a-half, focused on health care. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the caucus discussed Comey for maybe “90 seconds” on the topic. 
 
 Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn, who is leading the health care talks, predicted the Comey matter won’t detract from his work. 
 
 “I actually think that Republicans and Democrats will be looking for exactly the same thing: a very well-qualified FBI director of unimpeachable integrity who can lead the FBI and continue the investigation into what the Russians were doing in our election. I don’t think it makes any difference for health care,” Alexander said. 
 
 Play Facebook 
 
 Twitter 
 
 Embed 'I'm Not Saying This Is Going to Be Easy:' GOP Battles on Health Care 8:26 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
 
 But the reality is that the controversy has eaten into the rest of their work already. At their conference lunch on Thursday, which was supposed to again focus on health care, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., briefed his fellow Republicans on the conversation he had earlier in the day with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who the Trump administration said recommended Comey’s firing. 
 
 Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V. and a member of the Intelligence Committee, said the Senate needs to move on to other business beyond Russia and Comey, but he noted that it is becoming more difficult. 
 
 “We have to make sure we do a thorough job and leave no stone unturned… and go wherever the intelligence takes us,” he says. 
 
 While Senate rules and the calendar make sudden distractions like the Comey firing more damaging to their broader policy agenda, at least one Republican operative it could prove beneficial. 
 
 "It takes attention and fire away from an important policy effort," the operative said. "Having the focus and the fury over a personnel matter could make the policy items a little easier because it dials down the attention and scrutiny from the hard left." 
 
 Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, said he was confident his work on health care would not be impeded by Comey's ouster. 
 
 He then struggled to fight his way past a mob of reporters blocking the elevators as they questioned his Democratic colleagues. "Does anyone see the down button?" he said. ||||| 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. 
 
 Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. 
 
 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's controversies may be wearing thin on both sides of the aisle in the Senate. Two different outlets on Monday have posts with a similar theme: New York Times: "Senate Republicans, increasingly unnerved by President Trump’s volatility and unpopularity, are starting to show signs of breaking away from him as they try to forge a more traditional Republican agenda and protect their political fortunes." Senate Leader Mitch McConnell may still be a reliable Trump defender, but that appears to be changing among the rank and file, as seen in the public and private criticism of Trump in the aftermath of the James Comey firing. The story includes a quote from Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who says that among his GOP colleagues, "there is a lot less fear of him than there was just a month ago." Axios: It notes that Senate Republicans are going their own way on health care and the Russian investigation, and it predicts the same will happen on tax reform. Trump can't get leverage over his own party because Senate Republicans don't need him for the 2018 races, don't particularly like him, and no longer fear him, per the post. "Not long ago, Republicans worried about a Trump tweet fired their way. No more." NBC News and the Washington Post, meanwhile, have stories explaining how the Comey firing is the latest example of a surprise distraction taking away from the GOP agenda in the Senate, particularly on health care. "Anytime you have something else come along when you’re debating legislation, while you’re trying to iron out something, it can—it takes some of the momentum away," GOP Sen. Mike Lee said on Fox News Sunday. But, he added, "We’re going to get it done one way or another."