White House leaving healthcare heavy lifting to Senate Republicans

President Trump and high-level administration officials are using a lighter touch to help the Republican healthcare bill through the Senate as compared with the House, putting tremendous pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as skeptical GOP lawmakers threaten to defect on a key procedural vote this week.

"Sink or swim, this bill rests on the shoulders of leadership," one GOP Senate aide told the Washington Examiner. "It is their product with minimal White House involvement."

The White House has publicly backed the bill and expressed optimism that an Obamacare overhaul could advance before lawmakers leave for the July 4 recess at the end of the week. But privately, the president and his team have left much of the heavy lifting to McConnell, who faces the challenge of changing the legislation to satisfy some or all of the five Republican senators who oppose it as it is written.

Trump picked up the phone over the weekend to call four Republican senators who have expressed concerns about the healthcare plan: Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. And, on Friday, Vice President Mike Pence called Sen. Dean Heller after the Nevada Republican came out strongly against the bill, a White House aide told the Washington Examiner.

Overall, however, congressional aides say the administration's efforts have fallen short of the full-court press it launched in favor of the House's healthcare legislation earlier this year.