Bipartisan Obamacare deal sours soon after announcement
Nineteen US states sue to keep Obamacare cost-sharing measures
(about 1 hour later)
A bipartisan deal to extend Obamacare subsidies appears to have soured within a day of its announcement after opposition from Republican lawmakers.
A coalition of 19 US states has asked a federal judge to force the White House to continue Obamacare cost-sharing payments to insurance companies.
Two US senators announced a short-term agreement to continue federal payments to health insurers that help offset costs for low-income Americans.
Last week the White House said it would end the payments - aimed at reducing costs for low-income customers - after determining them to be illegal.
The move came after President Donald Trump said he would cancel the funding in an effort to weaken Obamacare.
A bipartisan deal to extend the subsidies has soured within a day of its announcement on Tuesday.
He said he was involved with the deal but later criticised the payments.
President Donald Trump at first praised the deal before saying he opposed it.
At a dinner on Tuesday night, Mr Trump said he commended the bipartisan work on the agreement, while adding that Congress needed to find a more permanent fix.
The 19 Democratic state attorneys general asked a federal judge in northern California on Wednesday to quickly issue a ruling, requiring the White House to keep the cost-sharing payments.
"I continue to believe Congress must find a solution to the Obamacare mess instead of providing bailouts to insurance companies," he said.
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health committee, and Senator Patty Murray, the panel's top Democrat, said on Tuesday they had reached an agreement to temporarily continue the funding.
Earlier on Tuesday Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health committee, and Senator Patty Murray, the panel's top Democrat, said they had struck an agreement to temporarily continue the funding.
The payments - which the White House chose to end last week after Mr Trump's Department of Justice ruled against them - would continue for two more years under the proposal.
Mr Trump said he supported the deal on Tuesday at a White House news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Mr Trump offered mixed opinions on the deal, at first appearing to take a share of the credit for the deal.
But on Wednesday, his spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the US president does not support the measure, saying: "We want something that just doesn't bail out the insurance companies but actually provides relief for all Americans."
"The solution will be for about a year or two years, and it will get us over this intermediate hump," he told reporters at the White House.
"And this bill doesn't address that," she continued, adding that the president supports the bipartisan attempt, but "we need something to go a little bit further to get on board".
But in the following hours the proposal came under fire from members of his Republican party.
She also called the compromise bill "a good step in the right direction".
By Wednesday morning the president tweeted: "I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co's who have made a fortune w/ O'Care."
The bill drew scrutiny from members of Mr Trump's party, including lawmaker Mark Walker, who heads the influential Republican Study Committee.
Mark Walker, who heads the influential Republican Study Committee, earlier described the bipartisan compromise.
"The GOP should focus on repealing & replacing Obamacare, not trying to save it. This bailout is unacceptable," he said in a statement.
Tom Cole, a Republican lawmaker from Oklahoma, said: "None of our guys voted for Obamacare."
Tom Cole, a Republican lawmaker from Oklahoma, said: "None of our guys voted for Obamacare."
"They're not very interested in sustaining it," he told the Washington Post.
"They're not very interested in sustaining it," he told the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Republican Susan Collins, a moderate who helped kill earlier efforts to repeal and replace the signature 2010 Democratic healthcare law, criticised the White House for shifting its stance.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan showed no interest either.
"Now, the White House is sending conflicting messages," she told CNN on Wednesday.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan appeared to have no interest in the deal.
"The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare," his spokesman Doug Andres told Reuters news agency.
"The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare," his spokesman Doug Andres told Reuters news agency.
The payments - which the White House chose to end last week after Mr Trump's Department of Justice determined them to be illegal - would continue for two more years under the proposal.
Critics have warned that Mr Trump's decision last week to end the payments would destabilise the healthcare markets by leading to higher premiums.
Will Congress back deal?
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter
Reports of Obamacare's death have been greatly exaggerated.
Hours after pronouncing the Democrats' signature healthcare legislation effectively dead and just minutes after saying cost-sharing payments to insurers was a government handout to boost their stock prices, President Trump backed a bipartisan deal that would keep the system afloat and continue the subsidies for "one to two years".
The president insists the end goal is still legislation that sends federal healthcare funds to the states to manage - but prospects, for now, appear dim.
Instead, the next healthcare battle in Congress could be over securing enough support for a bipartisan compromise bill to overcome resistance from hard-liners on the left and right.
Chances in the Senate seem good, but the House of Representatives - with its arch-conservative Freedom Caucus still seeking full repeal - will be a heavier lift. There's an informal tradition in the chamber that Republican leaders only hold votes on legislation supported by a majority of their party members.
Mr Trump prompted a crisis last week by ending government payments to keep insurance premiums down for low-income Americans, but he may have helped at least temporarily break a congressional logjam. There's a certain art to that deal.
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Critics have warned that Mr Trump's decision would destabilise the healthcare markets by leading to higher premiums.
They argue it would leave more people uninsured and cause some insurers to abandon unprofitable markets.
They argue it would leave more people uninsured and cause some insurers to abandon unprofitable markets.
Neither Republican leaders of the Senate or House of Representatives have yet scheduled a vote on the compromise deal, which would allow states more flexibility to waive some Obamacare policy requirements to allow consumers to buy cheaper plans.
The bipartisan compromise would allow states more flexibility to waive some Obamacare policy requirements so consumers can buy cheaper plans, say its adherents.
Senator Collins said she did not know if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would schedule a vote but that "if it comes to the floor, I think the votes are there".
Last week, the president also signed an executive order to allow the sale of insurance plans that are exempt from some Obamacare regulations.
Last week, the president took action to weaken Obamacare by announcing he would end the payments.
He also signed an executive order to allow the sale of insurance plans that are exempt from some Obamacare regulations.
The directive allows small businesses and some individuals to band together and form associations to sponsor coverage across state lines.
The directive allows small businesses and some individuals to band together and form associations to sponsor coverage across state lines.
