Story highlights "I don't know if we're going to be able to repeal Obamacare now because these folks who support Obamacare are very active," Brooks said.

"And you may not even see a vote to repeal Obamacare, you might see something where they call it a repeal but really it's an amendment," he added.

(CNN) Republican Rep. Mo Brooks said Thursday that protests at town halls around the country might prevent Republican lawmakers from repealing the Affordable Care Act.

"I'll tell you, Toni, there are a, in my opinion, a significant number of congressmen who are being impacted by these kinds of protests and their spine is a little bit weak," the Alabama congressman said in an interview on "The Morning Show with Toni & Gary" on WBHP 800 Alabama radio. "And I don't know if we're going to be able to repeal Obamacare now because these folks who support Obamacare are very active, they're putting pressure on congressman and there's not a counter-effort to steel the spine of some of these congressmen in tossup districts around the country."

Brooks continued, "And you may not even see a vote to repeal Obamacare, you might see something where they call it a repeal but really it's an amendment. You and I have talked about this before. We need an outright repeal of Obamacare and then whatever's gonna come after it, fine, let's have that discussion. But this monstrosity needs to be repealed and right now, in my judgment, we don't have the votes in Congress to pass a repeal bill, in part because of what these people are doing."

Since Donald Trump's inauguration, protesters have disrupted town halls held by Republican legislators, with the potential repeal of Obamacare emerging as one of the most controversial issues. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz claimed that protesters are out to "bully and intimidate" lawmakers.

Brooks similarly painted a grim portrait of the protests, claiming that there were "some anarchist types, criminal element types, disruptor types," though he described a meeting he held on Wednesday with local leaders of "Indivisible," a national organizing group that opposes President Trump's agenda, as a "polite exchange of ideas."

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