WASHINGTON _ Senators were just wrapping up dinner at the White House _ an upbeat chat with President Donald Trump about next steps for health care once they passed the long-promised Republican Obamacare overhaul.
And then the news broke _ with barely a heads-up to GOP leadership _ that two more Republicans had announced their opposition to the Senate legislation, effectively killing the bill.
Republican senators struggled Tuesday to make sense of what happened _ and what comes next _ now that their long promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act appears to have hit the end of the road.
"It's unfortunate," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters. "I still think it will happen _ just not this week or this month."
Republicans did not necessarily blame Trump, who failed to roll up his sleeves to become involved in the process until just this week. Nor did they openly criticize Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for pushing a hodge-podge bill that had scant support.
Ultimately, senators said, they have come to realize that their campaign promise may be easier said than done, and impossible to accomplish with their 52-seat majority.
"At the end of the day, just being so close in number and having a few people having different views _ that's just part of being a senator," said veteran Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah.
"The bottom line was there were plenty of members here who understood the president's preference and were willing to vote against it anyway," Rubio said. "This is the Senate. In the Senate leadership sets agendas, but senators by and large vote for the interests of their states."
Still some Republicans were unable to admit defeat.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a key architect of the failed strategy, vowed to press on, even though there appears to be no viable path to repealing the Affordable Care Act or replacing it any time soon with an agreed upon alternative.
"I continue to believe we can get this done," Cruz told reporters. "We can honor our promise and repeal Obamacare."
Senators were blindsided late Monday when two colleagues, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a longtime ally of Cruz, and Sen. Jerry Moran, a more low-key colleague from Kansas, jointly announced they would oppose the bill.
With two other Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine, already withholding support, leaders had lost the votes needed to advance the bill.
McConnell quickly produced a back-up plan _ a vote in "coming days" on simply repealing ACA now, and replacing it later. That had been McConnell's original idea months ago, but he abandoned it when Trump and others sought repeal and replace at the same time.
But by early Tuesday McConnell's new plan soon fizzled amid opposition.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., called the episode "a very painful process."
"We are watching the thing unfold on the screens of our TV and the papers you guys write for," Scott said.
He added, "The fact of the matter is we need to find a way to get traction among enough senators to get something accomplished. We don't seem to be there yet."
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who attended the dinner with a handful of other Republican senators, said the evening had been "very positive" as they discussed health care and other topics with the president.
"That's what was interesting. It was the assumption: We're going to finish this bill. We were talking about the next step.'"
