John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republicans said, “I think based on the discussions we had today that there’s more optimism that we could vote on a repeal and replace bill, rather than just a repeal bill." He added, "But if there’s not agreement then we’ll still vote on the motion to proceed" to the simple repeal measure.

After meeting with the president, McConnell told reporters he’s sticking with his plan to hold a procedural vote on health care early next week, likely aimed at debating a simple repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay. The Senate Budget Committee posted the text of a repeal amendment with a delay Wednesday afternoon.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday the repeal-only measure would result in 17 million more people without health insurance in 2018, rising to 32 million more without coverage by 2026. Premiums for individual policies would approximately double by 2026, while about three-fourths of the population would live in areas with no insurers in the individual market, according to the CBO.

GOP holdouts

Four Republican senators had previously said they’ll vote to block any repeal that lacks an adequate replacement. At least one of them, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, reiterated that position after the meeting with Trump.

Another, Susan Collins of Maine, said she has other plans and won’t attend a meeting that administration officials plan Wednesday night to try to persuade GOP holdouts. McConnell said the meeting will be held by Vice President Mike Pence, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Seema Verma, administrator for Medicare and Medicaid.

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said he’s "in the same position I’ve been in for weeks, which is trying to improve the bill."

McConnell can afford to lose no more than two Republicans to advance the measure.

"There is a large majority in our conference that want to demonstrate to the American people that they want to keep the commitment they made in four straight elections to repeal Obamacare," said McConnell of Kentucky. "No harm is done by getting on the bill."

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said the meeting will focus on the concerns of Republicans from states that accepted Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid. "It’s my sincere hope we get it over the line,” he said.

The Senate was originally scheduled to go on its traditional August recess on July 29, but McConnell delayed it by two weeks. He didn’t respond to questions about whether he would keep the Senate in session until it passed a health-care bill, as Trump requested.

‘Close again’

“We are very close again,” Trump said.

Trump directed some joking but pointed remarks to the senators whose opposition sunk McConnell’s plan. To Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Lee of Utah, he called them “my friends, they really were and are, they might not be very much longer.”

He also delivered a veiled threat to opponents. Speaking to Dean Heller of Nevada, who opposed the first version of McConnell’s bill, Trump suggested the voters in Nevada would appreciate him voting to replace Obamacare.

“He wants to remain a senator doesn’t he?” Trump asked.

Significant setback

The inability to deliver on seven years of GOP promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would be the biggest failure yet for Trump and Republicans since they won control of Congress and the White House.

"I’m not going to own it," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

The president’s approach to the issue has shifted wildly with tweets calling for various strategies in recent days.

After it became clear Monday that the Senate health-care bill did not have the 50 votes needed for passage, Trump said Republicans should vote to repeal Obamacare immediately then come up with a replacement plan later.

By Tuesday morning, Trump took to Twitter to support a different tactic: allowing the current health-care system to collapse before taking action to fix it.

On Wednesday, Trump was once again extolling the virtues of the Senate’s original repeal-and-replace bill, and his allies were saying the president was likely to rally Republicans around that legislation.

‘Even better’ plan

“The Republicans never discuss how good their healthcare bill is, & it will get even better at lunchtime,” he tweeted.

The Trump administration will make cost-sharing reduction payments for July, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. The payments are made monthly to insurers, and help reduce out-of-pocket costs for low income people. Their legitimacy is the subject of a court dispute, and the administration has mulled cutting them off as a way of forcing Democrats to the negotiating table over the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans control the Senate 52-48. McConnell hasn’t found a way to win over conservative and moderate holdouts seeking to pull the health care measure in opposite directions -- with conservatives demanding a fuller repeal of Obamacare and moderates seeking to preserve aid to Medicaid patients and people with pre-existing conditions.

Several senators have made clear that they want GOP leaders to pursue an alternative that would require working with Democrats, who are united against a repeal of Obamacare but say they want to work with Republicans to shore up health insurance markets.

McConnell of Kentucky has spoken of moving to a scaled-back, bipartisan measure, and the Senate Health Committee plans hearings in the coming weeks on how to stabilize markets.