Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said he believes Congress will not be able to make a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare this year.
"It's unlikely that we will get a healthcare deal. I don't see a comprehensive healthcare plan this year," Burr said in a Thursday interview with a North Carolina station WXII 12 News, according to CBS News.
The Senate has been at work on its version of a healthcare bill since the House of Representatives passed its version in May. That bill is "dead on arrival" in the Senate, Burr said in the interview.
"It's not a good plan."
Burr said the Senate is looking into how to keep the Obamacare markets stable in the meantime.
"Most of my time has been spent trying to figure out solutions to Iowa losing all its insurers, to Tennessee potentially losing theirs . . . that both aid the exchanges or transition it to something that's life after the Affordable Care Act," Burr said in the North Carolina interview, according to CBS News.
Conservative and centrist Republican senators have not been able to reach a consensus on a bill, according to The Hill.
Iowa Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst said that a full Obamacare repeal was not likely, according to a Wednesday CBS News report.
"As much as I'd love to go back and scrap the whole darn thing, we're simply unable to do that," Ernst said, according to the Wednesday CBS report.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn remains positive: "We'll get it done by the end of July at the latest," he said Wednesday on KFYO's "Chad Hasty Show."
Another Republican senator, Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., however, disagreed with Cornyn. Flake said he had a "hard time" believing that the vote would happen by August.
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