Congressional Republicans just can't quit their oft-thwarted effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans announced that they would include language to repeal the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act. Since Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts declared the ACA's individual mandate was a tax in the court's 5-4 ruling in 2012, it appeared likely that in any tax reform bill, the mandate would be thrown out.

Republicans are willing to risk it all to make up for a horrendous legislative year in which repeal and replace efforts on Obamacare failed to get the votes the first time in the House, which it then passed, and then failed multiple times in the Senate. They're desperate to get a win.

However, by including the individual mandate, the tax reform bill will surely fail.

Before the individual mandate was addressed by Senate Republicans, the competing tax bills in both the House and Senate had a lot of moving parts. Some of the biggest takeaways included slashing individual tax rates on the middle class, the corporate tax rate, and eliminating a lot of credits and deductions, as well as the alternative minimum tax. And while a lot of the language in the bill is confusing given our tax code, the language about repealing the individual mandate is familiar enough to the average voter to draw a visceral reaction.

Americans have never been more divided on the subject of healthcare. While the individual mandate is symbolic for penalizing individuals who don't purchase health insurance, the talking points by the opposition may be too much to bear for Republican lawmakers as they seek to whip up votes from the more moderate wing of the party.

But it won't work. The health insurance lobby is a powerful one, and they, along with the Democrats, will surely see to it that the individual mandate remains in place. They'll use the talking point that 13 million people will lose coverage, when, in reality, those are 13 million people who would choose to opt out of purchasing health insurance for either being too healthy or simply declining employer coverage. At least 5 million of the 13 million are Medicaid beneficiaries, and since eligibility requirements wouldn't change, they won't be penalized and won't lose coverage.

However, the opposition won't let a little something like facts get in the way. Republicans will surely cave on voting for the bill. Already Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is opposing the bill, not for the individual mandate, but because he feels it will put non-corporations at a disadvantage to C corporations who will benefit from a slashed corporate tax rate of 20 percent. But the John McCains, the Lisa Murkowskis, and the Susan Collinses of the Senate could make their "nays" more about healthcare than anything.

Given what we've seen this year from a Republican-controlled House and Senate, the odds are not in favor of this bill passing. And if that happens, President Trump will see to it that heads will roll.