(CNN) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will delay the vote on the Republican leadership's health care bill until after the July 4 recess. 
 
 McConnell told GOP senators that he wants to make changes to the bill, get a new Congressional Budget Office score and have a vote after the holiday, two sources told CNN. 
 
 Following McConnell's decision, President Donald Trump said negotiators are continuing to work and "getting very close" on a deal and that Obamacare was "melting down as we speak." 
 
 "We are going to talk," Trump told reporters during a meeting with Republican senators, who had been bussed from Capitol Hill to the White House. "We are going to see what we are going to do. We are getting very close." 
 
 Trump added, "For the country, we have to have health care and it can't be Obamacare, which is melting down. The other side is saying all sorts of things before they even knew what the bill was. This will be great if we get it done and if we don't get it done it is just going to be something we aren't going to like. And that is OK and I understand that very well." 
 
 McConnell's decision does not mean Republicans' plans for repealing and replacing Obamacare are dead, but it highlights the challenge facing the GOP leadership as they try to bridge the divide between conservatives and moderates in the party. While the additional time could allow for more negotiations to bring more lawmakers on board, it also means members of Congress could face pressure from constituents when they go home for recess with the future of health care hanging in limbo. 
 
 A senior Senate Republican aide told CNN that the plan for the moment is to hammer out a compromise bill by the end of this week, give members the full week of recess to digest and then vote on it when they get back. 
 
 "We know what everyone needs," the aide said. "Now we just need to make it work." 
 
 White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump spoke with McConnell on Tuesday morning and has been "fully engaged" with senators. 
 
 "For us, it is never been about the timeline but getting the best piece of legislation that helps the most," Sanders said. 
 
 The news followed a bustling morning in the Capitol, where Republican leaders, along with Pence, were meeting behind closed doors with the bill's opponents, as a number of senators came out against voting for a procedural step to advance their plans to repeal and replace Obamacare. 
 
 Mike Lee became the fifth member Tuesday to plan to vote against the motion to proceed on the health care bill as it is currently written, an aide told CNN. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Collins: Tinkering won't fix Senate bill Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Collins: Tinkering won't fix Senate bill 01:19 
 
 The motion is normally a routine procedural move, but its chances were growing increasingly grim due to the Republican intraparty division. 
 
 With Republicans only able afford the loss of two votes, the bill appeared to be teetering on the edge by lunchtime. 
 
 Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, told reporters the effort to get to 50 votes was "fluid" but maintained a degree of hope. "I wouldn't count McConnell out yet." 
 
 Meanwhile, Democrats on the Hill were organizing news conference after news conference, including a large showing of Democratic senators who gathered on the Capitol steps to lambast the beleaguered bill. 
 
 Behind the scenes, staffers for McConnell were trading potential legislative proposals with key offices, and McConnell himself met privately with Sen. Ted Cruz for nearly an hour. While the Texas Republican hadn't said how he'd vote on the motion to proceed -- he had previously been publicly opposed to the bill though open to negotiations. 
 
 Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, had been largely quiet since the bill went public last week. She's long been a question mark on how she would vote on the bill, and she told CNN Tuesday morning that she's "concerned about the bill in the form that it is now." 
 
 Asked later if there needs to be more opioid funding in the bill, Capito said that was just one of the issues. "That's not the only one," Capito told reporters. 
 
 Aides were also seen scurrying around in the Capitol trying to buttonhole members and their key staff about where things currently stand, with the idea being to have a menu of options ready for the Senate Republicans' weekly Tuesday lunch, where McConnell ultimately announced his decision to delay. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Schumer: Health care bill rotten at the core Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Schumer: Health care bill rotten at the core 01:06 
 
 The lunch, according to an aide, was expected to be at effort to both rally the troops and serve as a policy discussion. For McConnell's part, according to the aide, the message would be clear: A vote against the bill would be a vote to maintain Obamacare. If the bill failed, McConnell was set to argue, the only option would be to work with Democrats, which would lead to a less conservative outcome. 
 
 Pence expressed uncertainty earlier Tuesday on whether the bill would make it to the floor. "We'll see," he told CNN as he entered a meeting in the Capitol. 
 
 Pressed on what they are doing to salvage the bill, Pence responded, "lots of good discussions underway and we'll continue to work very diligently." 
 
 Also at the Capitol Tuesday was Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who was scheduled to hold meetings with Pence, McConnell and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida. 
 
 Rubio, like some senators, had been waiting to make his decision on the bill until he felt like he had enough input from his state's governor and other constituents. An aide to the senator said Rubio's staff invited staff from the offices of Scott -- as well as the Florida speaker and Senate president -- to Washington to be "embedded" in Rubio's office for the week and work with Rubio's team to analyze how the bill will affect Florida. 
 
 Over on the House side, Speaker Paul Ryan urged his members in a closed door session to give their Senate colleagues some space, according to a person in the room. 
 
 Ryan's point was that given the current state of play, it's not helpful for anyone in the House to come out and attack or criticize elements of the bill. Should the Senate pass the bill, Ryan argued, the House will get their chance, one way or another, to weigh in. Until then, he urged members to hold their fire. ||||| As Mitch McConnell unveiled the Senate’s long-anticipated Obamacare repeal bill at a closed-door briefing Thursday morning, he urged GOP senators to withhold statements announcing outright opposition to the proposal and remain flexible, according to people familiar with the matter. 
 
 About four hours later, a quartet of McConnell’s most conservative members said in a joint statement that they are “not ready to vote for this bill.” 
 
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 But notably, GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz left themselves plenty of room to eventually support it after further negotiation and persuasion — a critical nod to the Senate majority leader’s request. 
 
 The Kentucky Republican still has much work to do to get his health care overhaul across the finish line and may have to offer those senators some concessions that move the bill to the right. And somehow while doing so, he also must keep on board a pair of moderates and a half-dozen stalwart defenders of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. 
 
 Right now, McConnell is far from having a commitment for the 50 votes needed for passage, according to senators who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal politics of the 52-member caucus. But no one on Capitol Hill seems to be betting against the wily majority leader as he plans for one of the most critical roll call votes of his career next week. 
 
 “He is extremely talented in cobbling together coalitions of people who disagree,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate Republican skeptical of the GOP’s direction. “I never underestimate his ability to pull something off.” 
 
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 McConnell’s strategy has been a slow burn, allowing his members to vent in private party discussions while gradually writing a bill that takes in their considerations over the past six weeks. He’s had more than 30 meetings with his members about taking down the 2010 health law, intended to give his members more input and get them comfortable with the product. 
 
 Johnson, for example, doesn’t even serve on the two committees that oversee health care policy, so the process has empowered him more than he might have been through regular order. People close to McConnell believe Lee’s staff has been read in more than any other member on the chamber’s complicated parliamentary procedures that constrain what is possible under reconciliation. 
 
 “He believes that given the amount of input we’ve had from everybody, we’ll get to 50. Because everybody’s had a seat at the table,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a close McConnell ally in leadership. “If you get 80 percent of what you want in a circumstance like this, it’s going to have to be a victory because we’re not going to get 100 percent.” 
 
 The most immediate concern is certainly the four Republicans who’ve banded together to enhance their negotiating position. 
 
 Republican leaders believe McConnell can probably get Johnson (R-Wis.) to eventually support the bill, either through persuasion or an amendment. Republicans hope that positive comments from insurance companies and health care experts in Wisconsin could sway the senator to the yes column. 
 
 Cruz (R-Texas) is a tougher task: He and Lee (R-Utah) have been working together on several conservative proposals. Cruz’s biggest ask is to allow insurance companies that offer Obamacare policies to be able to offer non-Obamacare policies as well, arguing that it would provide consumers an additional option and likely drive down prices. 
 
 Adoption of such a proposal could win the votes of those two conservative stalwarts, as well as other Republicans, but there’s a problem: The parliamentarian may not allow them under the Senate’s strict budget reconciliation rule. In fact, it might pose a big enough problem to kill the whole bill. McConnell may be able to win those conservatives over, said a Republican senator, but a “little help from the parliamentarian would be nice.” 
 
 There is also some concern that the proposal would destabilize markets because the sickest people would end up in pricier Obamacare plans. Cruz and Lee also want to allow insurance to be sold across state lines, but Republicans are confident that will not pass muster with the parliamentarian. It's not clear what, if anything, McConnell can do to satisfy them if those measures are not included. 
 
 In addition to the joint statement with his colleagues, Paul went on a media tour de force criticizing the bill as “Obamacare lite” on Thursday. He’s still viewed by GOP insiders as a likely “no” vote, but with a stronger hand as part of the conservative gang. 
 
 McConnell “said this morning that this is a draft and that he’s open to changes. But I think it’s more likely we get changes if there’s four of us asking for changes,” Paul said on Thursday afternoon. “The bill’s got to look more like repeal and less like we’re keeping” Obamacare. 
 
 In the past, Paul, Cruz and Lee have all defied McConnell. But they also all entered the Senate on campaigns to repeal Obamacare. McConnell’s message ultimately will boil down to: “It’s time to put up or shut up,” said the party’s chief vote counter, John Cornyn of Texas. 
 
 “I think he’s right. We could talk about this endlessly and never reach a conclusion,” Cornyn said in an interview. 
 
 Thune added that a more dire argument is beginning to circulate among Republican leaders. 
 
 “If we don’t get this done and we end up with Democratic majorities in ‘18, we’ll have single payer. That’s what we’ll be dealing with,” Thune said. 
 
 On the other side of the party’s ideological spectrum, Collins said Thursday she’s angling for a vote to strip the bill’s Planned Parenthood defunding provision, which could roil the rest of the conference’s social conservatives. 
 
 And senators from Medicaid expansion states like Rob Portman of Ohio and Dean Heller of Nevada raised “concerns” about future funding constraints, though they also did not come out forcefully against the bill as leaders had feared. 
 
 “I’m still up in the air,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, another backer of robust Medicaid funding. 
 
 Despite the public perception — partly pushed by Democrats — of a rushed process and closed-door negotiations, most Republican lawmakers say McConnell has done as much as he can to incorporate each senator’s wants and craft a bill that could satisfy a wide-ranging conference. 
 
 Rank-and-file lawmakers say they would want more time to review the bill, but they understand McConnell has to make the push now instead of letting the controversial plan twist in the wind or further stall the GOP’s agenda. 
 
 “We have 23 work days between now and the end of the fiscal year,” a second Republican senator said. “So what he’s saying is, ‘You know guys, if we talk about this for another month, we’ll still be bickering.’” 
 
 Now, the majority leader has one week before his self-imposed deadline to convince the parliamentarian on key legislative language and corral 50 votes — all while facing the risk that he’ll be held responsible if the GOP doesn’t repeal Obamacare, as the party has promised for four election cycles. 
 
 Republicans said their hope is that if the bill does fail, McConnell won't be the one held responsible. 
 
 “I don’t think he’ll get the blame. I think he’ll get credit for trying,” said a third Republican senator. “It’ll be the people that vote against it that get the blame.” 
 
 Jennifer Haberkorn, Elana Schor and Rachana Pradhan contributed to this report. ||||| Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still short the 50 votes he needs to pass the bill, with several senators saying they’re withholding their support until they see final legislation. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Senate GOP reveals Obamacare repeal bill but still lacks the votes After weeks of work behind closed doors, the GOP released its plan and is now trying to find the votes to pass it. 
 
 Senate Republican leaders unveiled their long-secret plan to repeal Obamacare Thursday, formally kicking off the search for the 50 votes needed for passage amid stark party divisions. 
 
 Just hours after Republicans were briefed on the bill, four conservatives put out a statement saying they were withholding their support for the plan. A number of moderate GOP senators, meanwhile, said they were still poring through the the 142-page bill, which was crafted after weeks of work behind closed doors. 
 
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 The broad contours of the plan — which would tear down large parts of the 2010 health law, cap one of the nation’s biggest entitlement programs and overhaul one-sixth of the U.S. economy — have come into focus in recent days. 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a vote as early as next Thursday, ahead of Congress’ July 4 recess and before more opposition can mount. 
 
 But the Kentucky Republican is still short the 50 votes he needs to pass the bill. 
 
 GOP Sens. Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee and Rand Paul said in a statement Thursday that they are "not ready" to support the measure, though they remained open to voting for it after further negotiations. 
 
 "It does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their health care costs," they said. 
 
 Cruz is pushing for an amendment to allow catastrophic, low premium plans, but it's not clear if the parliamentarian will allow them, according to Republicans. 
 
 Since Senate Democrats are unified in their resistance, Republicans are using a fast-track process that can evade filibusters. But they can only afford two defections and still maintain the thin majority needed to pass the repeal bill. 
 
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 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats immediately took to the floor to blast the plan. 
 
 “The president said the Senate bill needed heart,” he said. “The way this bill cuts health care is heartless. The president said the House bill was mean. The Senate bill may be meaner.” 
 
 When asked if the Senate plan has enough heart at a White House event Thursday, President Donald Trump replied, “A little negotiation, but it's going to be very good.” Later, he tweeted that he was "very supportive" of the plan. 
 
 Former President Barack Obama blasted the Senate bill as a "massive transfer of wealth" that would skyrocket the cost of health care for poor and middle-class Americans. 
 
 "It hands enormous tax cuts to the rich and to the drug and insurance industries, paid for by cutting health care for everybody else," Obama wrote in a Facebook post. "Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm." 
 
 The Congressional Budget Office hasn't yet weighed in on how many fewer Americans are likely to be insured under the Republican plan, or answered the crucial political question of whether premiums would be reduced. That report is expected by early next week, setting up a sprint to gather votes ahead of a potential late-week vote. 
 
 The House bill, whose fundamental framework can be seen in the Senate plan, would leave 23 million fewer Americans insured over the next decade, according to CBO. 
 
 The Senate bill — blandly dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 — eliminates Obamacare’s mandates and hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes on the wealthy and the health industry. Notably, it doesn’t impose any new requirement that people purchase or maintain coverage — a major element that Republican leaders said they’re still working on. 
 
 The bill would also phase out Obamacare's Medicaid expansion over three years beginning in 2021 and make deep cuts to the long-term Medicaid program, while allowing states to impose work requirements on certain beneficiaries. It keeps the structure of Obamacare's insurance subsidies to help low-income people buy insurance, but tweaks them to cover only those making up to 350 percent of the federal poverty line — down from the 400 percent covered under Obamacare. 
 
 The bill bars the use of subsidies for plans that include abortion coverage, though some Republicans have said that the provision may not survive due to the Senate's strict procedural rules under reconciliation. Planned Parenthood would be defunded for one year. 
 
 Obamacare's $1 billion Prevention and Public Health Fund, which was designed to tackle threats like Zika and pay for preventive health services, would be eliminated by 2018. 
 
 Senate Republicans would allow states to opt out of some of Obamacare’s insurance requirements, including one requiring states to have an exchange, as well as rules for what benefits insurers must cover, what qualifies as a health plan, and the actuarial value of the plans. Those waivers are aimed at loosening oversight of insurers and paving the way toward even lower premiums, though they could also prompt insurers to dramatically cut benefits and increase deductibles. 
 
 The bill won't allow states to waive Obamacare requirements that insurers accept everyone and charge the same rates, with few exceptions. The House waived the latter requirement, triggering a storm of criticism that it was abandoning people with pre-existing conditions. 
 
 Still, the Senate bill was met with near-universal backlash from patient advocates, hospitals and public health organizations. 
 
 Republicans are holding out hope that health insurance groups will ultimately come to the legislation's defense, some senators said. But the bill's fate will rest on how factions on either end of the conference's ideological spectrum react to the bill's sweeping proposals. 
 
 Indeed, conservatives, moderates and senators from Medicaid expansion states all remained on the fence even after coming out of the meeting. 
 
 "By the time I get back to my office I'm told I'll have a copy," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a key moderate swing vote. "There was no paper. ... I want to get back to my office and actually take a look at it." 
 
 Along with other Medicaid expansion-state senators, like Ohio's Rob Portman and West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito, Murkowski is worried about the consequences of cutting off Obamacare's enhanced funding so quickly, and pushed instead for rolling back expansion over as many as seven years. 
 
 Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins have also warned against defunding Planned Parenthood as part of the bill, and expressed reservations about the impact certain provisions may have on elderly Americans' ability to afford coverage. 
 
 McConnell full remarks on Senate health care bill poster="https://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201706/3914/1155968404_5480170897001_5480145898001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true 
 
 And among conservatives, there remain serious concerns over whether the repeal bill amounts to a "true" repeal of Obamacare and the regulations it imposes on the health care system. 
 
 
 
 Freedomworks, a conservative advocacy group, panned the proposal as "an amendment to ObamaCare" rather than a repeal, and urged Paul, Lee and Cruz to hold out until their demands are met. 
 
 Senate Republican leaders have spent the last few weeks trying to manage that delicate ideological balance, in hopes of charting a narrow path to 50 votes 
 
 Still, Republicans said Thursday's all-conference meeting demonstrated there are still a number of issues yet to be solved. 
 
 "It's obviously a discussion draft," said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). "So we've got members who are going to be interested in looking at the text and see what they can do to refine, improve and dial things accordingly to try to figure out how we get 50 votes." 
 
 Brianna Ehley, Rachana Pradhan and Rachael Bade contributed to this report.
– Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is aiming to hold a vote on the Senate's version of ObamaCare repeal-and-replace legislation next week—despite the fact that many GOP senators haven't seen it yet, let alone said they will support it. Insiders tell the Wall Street Journal that although McConnell can only afford to lose two Republican votes, he wants to wrap it up before the July 4 recess so the chamber can move on, and he is gambling that the pressure will make it easier for the GOP to reach a consensus. The Journal notes that if the bill fails to pass before the recess, lawmakers returning home could face "pressure from constituents." The bill is being crafted behind closed doors and sources tell Politico that the text should be ready this week, giving lawmakers around a week to review it before the vote. In contrast, the chamber debated the ObamaCare bill for a month in 2009. The Hill reports that McConnell has focused on winning over moderate Republicans, though conservatives in the House say the bill will die there unless the Senate keeps provisions including the phasing out of ObamaCare's extra Medicaid funding by 2020. "It's close," says GOP Sen. Richard Burr. "Everybody's been counting [votes] since the beginning. It's been close since the beginning." Democrats have slammed the GOP for failing to hold hearings, and plan to "embarrass the heck out of Republicans, who are as much in the dark as we are about their own leadership's plans on the bill," says Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Monday that Democrats will delay Senate business unless the GOP allows open debate on the legislation.