Pye said congressional Republicans must, at the very least, pass the same bill that former President Obama vetoed last year, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, which repealed all of the tax-and-spending provisions in the law. “Anything other than that, and there will be hell to pay from grassroots activists,” he told me. “We can’t nibble around the edges here. We can't sit here and try to be cute with this effort. We either need to be all in, or Republicans are going own Obamacare.” Dan Holler, a spokesman for the conservative Heritage Action, offered a similar criticism. “Giving states the ability to keep Obamacare will not empower patients; too many will remain trapped in a failing, centrally controlled system,” he said. “Congressional Republicans promised to repeal Obamacare for all Americans, not just some. They promised to provide more freedom and choice for all patients, not just some.”

That Cassidy’s bill is getting a second life exemplifies the GOP’s dilemma on Obamacare: Republican leaders want to repeal the law as fast as possible, but they have encountered resistance from President Trump and a growing number of rank-and-file lawmakers who are demanding that a replacement be ready immediately. Republican governors in states that embraced the ACA and expanded Medicaid have also warned Congress against taking action that could destabilize the insurance market and threaten coverage. “We recognize that our bill is not perfect. It is still a work in progress,” Collins said. “But if we do not start putting specific legislation on the table that can be debated, refined, amended, and enacted, then we will fail the American people.”

Trump on Friday signed an executive order aimed at laying the groundwork for repeal by directing federal agencies to ease the “burden” of the law on consumers, insurers, and businesses. But in a sign of the division among Republicans on the issue, Collins criticized the order as “very confusing.” “We really don’t know yet what the impact will be,” she said.

To supporters of Obamacare, the GOP bill represents less a serious policy proposal than an attempt by nervous legislators to grasp onto anything they can describe as a replacement.

“It shows that a handful of Republican senators are extremely uncomfortable with ‘repeal and delay,’ and they’re desperately looking for a way out,” said Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at the liberal Center for American Progress.

The Cassidy bill could begin to look more appealing to some Democrats if Republicans succeed in repealing most of the Affordable Care Act later this year with a simple majority vote in the House and Senate. It would keep the law alive and offer the chance that states would re-embrace it once they’ve experienced the alternative. But as they watch Republicans struggle to keep the hardline promise they’ve made to their base, Democrats are in no hurry—yet—to negotiate.

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