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Lee also promoted the Consumer Freedom Act he drafted alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to entice other conservative senators to support the replacement process and address the current bill’s inadequacies.

“By guaranteeing them at least one Obamacare-compliant plan, we’re guaranteeing them exactly what they have now but giving them more options. Options that would inevitably unleash free-market forces, that would in turn bring down the price of health care. That’s what we want to do,” Lee said. “As to those who would be on the Obamacare-compliant plan still, there are ways of funding those. There are ways of making sure that those don’t go down into a downward spiral.”

“We’ve got to do something to re-inject free-market forces into this environment. And look if we can’t get this done, I have made clear if we can bring free-market forces to bear, we can bring down cost for middle Americans,” Lee added.

While conservative senators pushed a new two-bill approach, the administration and Senate GOP leaders continued to insist the existing partial-repeal bill could win enough support to pass.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price insisted Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the GOP leadership’s health care discussions “are ongoing as we speak.” White House Director for Legislative Affairs Marc Short said on “Fox News Sunday” that “we’re getting close” to a health care vote in the Senate.

McConnell told reporters Friday night that the Senate is “going to stick with” the current drafted partial-repeal legislation.

“We are going to stick with that path,” McConnell said. “Failure has to be possible, or you can’t have success.”

The Senate majority leader said he is “trying to figure out how to twist the dials to get to 50 to replace this with something better” before directing a jab at Trump’s campaign slogan. “It’s not easy making America great again, is it?”[lz_pagination]