WASHINGTON _ Senate Republicans appear unlikely to hit a self-imposed Friday deadline for revising their health care bill, despite a push from the White House and a sudden visit to the Capitol by Vice President Mike Pence.
As the afternoon dragged on, senators began leaving town for the long Fourth of July holiday weekend without resolution of their struggle to end Obamacare.
Even so, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and top Republican lawmakers huddled behind closed doors in hopes of still producing an agreement by Friday.
"That's our goal," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the majority whip, as he left the session. "We're plowing ahead, inch by inch, yard by yard. We're not there yet, but we continue to talk."
McConnell abruptly halted a planned vote this week when it became clear he did not have enough support for passage.
Focus continued Thursday on how to lower insurance premium costs in the bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, perhaps by providing more insurance subsidies or stabilization funds for states.
One way to do that might be to keep some of the Obamacare taxes on wealthier households in place to pay for the extra help.
Republicans have long promised to repeal Obamacare's taxes, but they are now reconsidering whether to keep a 3.8 percent investment income tax for households earning beyond $200,000 a year. That would provide as much as $200 billion over the decade, by some estimates, and shield senators from attacks that their bill is a give-away of tax cuts for the wealthy.
But other sticking points remain. Centrist senators continue to push to save Medicaid from severe cuts, especially in Ohio, West Virginia and Nevada where hundreds of thousands of residents have newly enrolled in the safety net program that was expanded with Obamacare.
Although some Republicans insisted they had "momentum" after Thursday's private sessions, others were frustrated there was no clear end-game in sight.
"I'm just shocked that we're going home," said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of the conservatives opposing the bill until changes are made. "I want to stick around here 24/7 to get this thing done."
