A group of at least three Republican senators are planning to openly oppose the newly-released Republican health care bill, NBC's Chuck Todd reported Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) finally released the text of the bill Thursday after more than a month of speculation.
"For the past seven years, Obamacare has continued to hurt the people we represent," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "For the past seven years, Republicans have offered ideas for a better way forward. And soon, we will finally have the chance to turn the page on this failing law."
But the host of "Meet the Press" reported a "solid source" told him that some Republicans are already opposed to the Senate draft.
Per solid source: at least 3 GOP sens (perhaps more) plan to announce public opposition to McConnell health bill later today. Developing
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) June 22, 2017
With only 52 Republicans in the Senate, three defectors would be enough to effectively kill the bill unless one or more Democrats flipped as well.
Todd did not name the senators in question, but 11 GOP senators have already voiced concerns about the bill, according to a Washington Post analysis. The critics of the bill range from moderate Republicans such as Maine's Susan Collins to staunch conservatives like Texas' Ted Cruz.
Even some of the senators who served on the Republican working group that helped drafted the bill have expressed frustration with the drafting process.
"It has become increasingly apparent in the last few days that even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it's not being written by us, it's apparently being written by a handful of staffers who are members of the Republican leadership in the Senate," Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) said Tuesday.