The future of 'Trumpcare' is already starting to look like a mess

"I know that we are going to make a deal on healthcare. That's such an easy one," Trump said. "I have no doubt that that's going to happen quickly."

It was a comment Trump's press secretary later said was made in jest, alluding to remarks he made during the healthcare debate about its complications.

But this week, despite the American Health Care Act's failure one week ago, Trump and other Republican leaders have suggested that they have not given up on their vow to repeal and replace Obamacare.

And they're doing so in earnest.

A House divided

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise came to the podium Tuesday and warned Democrats about celebrating the failure of the AHCA.

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A mood of optimism continued, however, as Bloomberg reported that the GOP leadership was mulling bringing the healthcare bill back to the floor of the chamber as soon as next week, citing two anonymous Republican lawmakers. Numerous reports also indicated that GOP members outside of the leadership were itching to get back to work on the healthcare bill.

"," Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia told Bloomberg.

But a spokesperson for Ryan told Business Insider on Wednesday there was "no schedule update" for a possible vote on the legislation. And there seems to be a big reason for this strong, but noncommittal, talk: the same divisons that sank the AHCA the first time around haven't gone anywhere.

According to most media counts, roughly 33 to 35 House GOP lawmakers had come out publicly against the AHCA. Republicans can only withstand 21 defections for the bill to pass.

And the formation of two distinct ideological groups has made it near impossible to see how the current form of the AHCA could make it through a House vote.

On the other, members of the moderate Tuesday Group have taken issue with the changes to Medicaid funding under the AHCA that would likely see the government program that provides insurance to low-income Americans get cut in many states. The Congressional Budget Office's projections that 24 million fewer people could be covered over the next 10 years under "Trumpcare" compared the current system also raised red flags.

The two groups attempted to get together and work out their differences on Wednesday — but according to Axios' Jonathan Swan, it did not go well.

A Tuesday Group source told Axios that "fireworks" erupted at the Tuesday Group's meeting on healthcare. Additionally, a meeting of the Freedom Caucus, Tuesday Group, and the conservative Republican Study Committee, but it was called off.

Ryan, in an interview on Thursday with CBS News, said Republicans needed to get a repeal-and-replace bill done before Trump shifted and began to work with Democrats on solutions for the existing ACA.

"What I worry about, Norah, is that if we don't do this, then he'll just go work with Democrats to try and change Obamacare, and that's hardly a conservative thing," Ryan told CBS News reporter Norah O'Donnell.

The Senate moves on

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came to the podium and gave Democrats permission to be pleased about the failure of the AHCA.

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Most the action on the AHCA has been focused in the House — it was there the bill was written and failed to pass — but it the Senate could be an even bigger hurdle for the bill, complicating any future efforts to pass the legislation.

Many GOP senators this past week have begun discussing working on a bipartisan solution for healthcare.

Republicans attempted to use the budget reconciliation process, since Democrats could filibuster any substantial change to the law, meaning they would only need a 50-vote majority to get the bill passed in the Senate. With that off the table, some leading GOP senators have decided that finding common ground and getting over the 60-vote threshold would be the best option.

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Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker, also a Republican from Tennessee, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would take the existing ACA framework and provide stabilization to the individual insurance market — rather than totally repeal the law.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas has offered similar sentiments, inviting Democrats to the table to fix the deficiencies of Obamacare.

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Many Senate Republicans detested the AHCA in the first place.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, an ardent Trump supporter in the election, repeatedly took a hatchet to the healthcare bill and became a loud, leading voice in opposition.

"," Cotton said on March 9.

Cotton also blasted the supposed three-step process that the White House and House GOP touted for its repeal and replace of Obamacare, calling it "just politicians engaging in spin."

The White House is muddled

Trump, for his part, hasn't helped heal the divisions while talking up the possibility of completing a new deal, blasting fellow Republican lawmakers who helped sink the legislation and making a questionable endorsement of a Ryan critic.

Ryan told CBS News that Trump was "apologetic" about the tweet and did not know Pirro was going to attack the speaker.

But Trump spent most of his week homed in on the Freedom Caucus, unleashing a series of tweets between Saturday and Thursday blaming the group for standing in the way of the AHCA.

On Thursday, Trump tweeted a broadside at the Freedom Caucus, suggesting he would target them in their reelection efforts.

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Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a Freedom Caucus member and opponent of the AHCA who once called it "Obamacare 2.0," struck back at the president on Twitter.

"It didn't take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump. No shame, Mr. President. Almost everyone succumbs to the D.C. Establishment," Amash wrote.

Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, another member of the Freedom Caucus, also replied to the president on Twitter.

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The White House has been engaged, however, in some new discussions on healthcare. Both Vice President Mike Pence and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon have been working behind the scenes to bring the two House GOP sides together on a passable version of the AHCA, according to reports.

But even with the continued negotiations the task for Republican leaders looks daunting: bring together disparate factions of the House and Senate after a week that only seemed to sew their divisions deeper.

The future of 'Trumpcare' is already starting to look like a mess

A House divided

The Senate moves on

The White House is muddled

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