Both Republicans' and Democrats' Obamacare fixes went down in flames, but lawmakers are hoping for a solution in the aftermath. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has pinned the impending crisis on the GOP, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., hoped that enough Democrats would join Republicans on reforms. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images ; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"I think the question is, do the Democrats, after they got their messaging vote done, actually want to engage in a real conversation about this," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. "Because it didn't seem like they had a real high level of interest in reforms, but there are some who do. I don't know if there are enough, but I think we're going to get a sense of that here very soon."
Thune echoed what many Republicans in the upper chamber believed: Senate Democrats' three-year extension of the subsidies was never meant to succeed, but only served as a political messaging exercise.
Still, four Senate Republicans crossed the aisle to vote for Democrats’ plan. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, argued that she voted for both proposals not because both were exactly what she wanted, but because she wanted to get the ball rolling toward a solution.
"Sometimes around the Senate, we have to demonstrate what we can't do first before we can get to what we need to do," she said. "Today was the first step in that process of demonstrating what we can't do now. Let's get on with it and fix it."
SENATE DEMS BLOCK REPUBLICANS' HSA PLAN AS OBAMACARE DEADLINE NEARS
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., believed that the looming healthcare crisis wouldn't be solved unless President Donald Trump got more involved. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Republicans still have several options on the table, including a plan from Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., that marries an extension of the subsidies with HSAs and reforms, and a plan from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, that would extend the credits for two years, among others.
There’s also the possibility that the healthcare fight continues on into the next year and goes through the partisan budget reconciliation process, which Republicans used earlier this year to ram through Trump’s agenda.
While that’s an option, many in the upper chamber acknowledge that the best way forward is working with the other side of the aisle.
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"I would rather do it on a bipartisan basis, because that's the way that Congress is supposed to work," Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. "But if Democrats are intent upon sticking people with either higher premiums and/or $6,000 deductible, we got to do something. So it's not good for the American people."
While there are lawmakers that hope the failed votes were the springboard forward, and not a dead end, toward tackling the Obamacare issue, Schumer signaled that it was Republicans' fault that the subsidies would likely expire.
"This is their crisis now, and they're going to have to answer for it," he said.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-mulls-next-steps-after-dueling-obamacare-fixes-go-up-flames