Republicans had faced a September 30 deadline of their own to pass a health-care bill through the Senate using the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process. At the time of the fiscal deal, this wasn’t much of a factor, because the party had seemingly given up on Obamacare repeal after the Senate failed to pass a bill in July. McConnell had moved on, as had many Republican senators; one committee even launched bipartisan hearings and negotiations with the goal of fixing the law rather than repealing it.

All the while, however, GOP Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana had been working quietly on a repeal proposal. For weeks its prospects appeared dim, in part because the Senate simply had too much else on its plate. The fiscal deal removed one major hurdle, and on Wednesday, a spokesman for McConnell said it is the majority leader’s “intention to consider Graham-Cassidy on the floor next week.”

Pelosi and Schumer have already begun facing questions about whether they unwittingly helped revive the repeal of Obamacare, and those are only likely to intensify if the Graham-Cassidy bill passes. On Wednesday, Pelosi rejected out of hand the notion that they might share some of the blame. “Nooo,” she replied when a reporter asked if she had any regrets about striking the deal and clearing the calendar for a repeal bill. “They’re not even related. In fact, it gives us the opening,” Pelosi said. “That’s why [the Republicans] were opposed to it. That’s why they were so long-faced coming out of the meeting.”

A Senate Democratic aide similarly dismissed the argument as “nonsensical.” Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the aide said that even if the Senate was negotiating a spending deal in the final days of the month, there would be nothing to stop McConnell—either procedurally or politically—from bringing up a repeal bill as well. “McConnell would move to have this vote the minute he had the votes no matter what else was on the table,” the aide said. “So of course we would make the deal we made at the beginning of the month because that sets up the maximum amount of leverage for the end of the year.”

The aide also argued that a crowded schedule would have made it easier for Republicans to pass a health-care bill, since the attention of the media and the public would be divided. “They need the cover of night to advance it,” the aide said.

Still, if the unexpected agreement did free up time for Republicans, it might also have provided some additional motivation for a party that was clearly miffed at having to cede ground to Democrats despite controlling the levers of government. GOP lawmakers have warned that their inability to enact their agenda could jeopardize their majority next year, and with Trump turning in frustration to “Chuck and Nancy,” first on spending and then again on immigration, they saw first-hand the consequences of their own disunity.