The Latest: GOP uneasy about how to replace health care law

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2016, file photo. the American flag flies in front of the U.S. Capitol dome at sunset on Capitol Hill in Washington. The end of the 2016 presidential election is at hand. A joint session of Congress is set to count the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2017, a traditional ending to a most unconventional presidential election. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2016, file photo. the American flag flies in front of the U.S. Capitol dome at sunset on Capitol Hill in Washington. The end of the 2016 presidential election is at hand. A joint session of Congress is set to count the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2017, a traditional ending to a most unconventional presidential election. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress (all times EST):

3:50 p.m.

There’s growing Republican unease about repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law without having a replacement plan ready to go.

With Donald Trump about to enter the White House, Republicans plan to void the health care law this year as quickly as they can.

Writing a GOP alternative is more complicated and likely to take added time.

Increasingly, Republicans are expressing nervousness about voting to dismantle Obama’s law without having a substitute in hand.

Tennessee GOP Sen. Bob Corker told reporters Friday that Republicans could end up in a “box canyon” if they annul the existing statute without having their own package ready.

With 20 million Americans getting coverage under Obama’s law, the GOP could face a political nightmare if they repeal the statute but can’t enact a replacement.

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1:25 p.m.

It didn’t take long for Democrats to object to the counting of Electoral College votes.

Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts objected to Alabama’s votes for Donald Trump, saying the election in that state did not comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.

However, since no senator joined in the objection, it was rejected. Other Democrats objected to votes in Florida and Georgia.

House Democrats are raising objections to Trump’s election as a joint session of Congress tallies the votes. They can slow the count but do not have the votes to change the outcome.

Vice President Joe Biden is presiding over the count. In denying one objection, Biden said, “It is over.”

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11:42 a.m.

Longtime Texas Republican Congressman Sam Johnson has announced he will retire at the end of the term.

The 86-year-old Johnson was a fighter pilot in Vietnam and Korea before his election to Congress in 1990. He spent seven years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton.

On Capitol Hill, Johnson has been a stalwart conservative as a fierce defender of gun rights, an opponent of tax increases, and a hawk on military matters.

He attracted attention recently when introducing legislation to curb Social security benefits.

Johnson has slowed in recent years and told supporters that “the Lord has made clear that the season of my life in Congress is coming to an end.”

Speaker Paul Ryan called Johnson “the greatest living man I know.”

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9:30 a.m.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio says he won’t support his Senate colleague Jeff Sessions, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general.

Brown says he met with Sessions this week and says the Alabama Republican has a civil rights record “at direct odds with the task of promoting justice and equality for all.”

The Ohio senator says the U.S. needs leaders who can ensure strong voting rights and reform the criminal justice system.

Brown said Friday he also pressed Sessions on the Justice Department’s role in helping Cleveland improve relations between police and community. The city and the federal government are working together through a consent decree, something Sessions has opposed in the past.

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8:05 a.m.

Republicans who once offered unstinting support for US intelligence agencies and sustained criticism of Russia have changed their message.

Today, as Donald Trump questions intelligence assessments about Russian hacking and offers praise for Vladimir Putin, many congressional Republicans are backing him up.

Far from strongly defending the U.S. intelligence community, they’re siding with the president-elect, even when he makes comments or takes stances that would seem anathema to the GOP.

House Speaker Paul Ryan says Trump is right to be concerned about partisans trying to use Russian hacking to question the legitimacy of his victory.

It’s a remarkable turnabout for a political party that cheered President Ronald Reagan’s hard-line stance against the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union and joined European allies in blistering Putin after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.