2 March 2017 - Six weeks into unified government, Republican leaders are back to where they were in the Obama years — under fire from conservatives for giving too much ground on major policy issues.

In particular, the party push to undo the health care law while avoiding major disruptions in coverage — a priority reinforced on Tuesday by President Trump in his prime-time address — is encountering major resistance from the right. The determined opposition has thrown the party’s repeal effort into confusion and created uncertainty over what to eliminate and how to pay for any alternative.

Three Republican senators this week said they would vote only for a straightforward repeal of the law despite reluctance to do so on the part of several colleagues worried about cutting off health insurance to their constituents. With Senate Republicans holding only a 52-seat majority, those three alone — Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah — could doom a Republican measure opposed by all Democrats. House conservatives are also lining up against emerging repeal-and-replace proposals in numbers that could deny House Republicans the needed votes to deliver on a top priority.

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