WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Republicans simply allow the Affordable Care Act to collapse on its own is sounding better and better to Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

“It’s starting to make some sense now,” King said Tuesday. “Let the pain of Obamacare compound itself until the public and the Congress are committed to making a change.”

It’s a fall-back position that demonstrates just how difficult Republicans have found the path to consensus on repealing and replacing the ACA.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., now plans to abandon a simultaneous repeal-and-replace measure and instead bring up the partial repeal legislation that Republicans sent to Obama in 2015.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., has previously argued against such a plan. In response to World-Herald questions about whether she stands by that opposition, Fischer spokeswoman Brianna Puccini provided a statement that did not address the question.

Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, both Iowa Republicans, similarly provided statements that did not even mention the repeal now, replace later plan.

All three have indicated that they would vote to at least bring up a Republican health care bill so that it could be debated and amended.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., has not said how he would vote on the initial procedural vote. But he has been among those pushing the idea of repeal now, replace later that had been endorsed by Trump and is apparently now the position of Senate Republican leadership.

Sasse spokesman James Wegmann said Tuesday in a statement that Sasse is prepared to work through August “to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a system that expands insurance portability across job and geographic change and that lowers costs for Nebraska families.”

Enough Senate Republicans have announced opposition to the repeal first, replace later approach to doom it, but King warned that their opposition will carry a price.

“If it fails, there will be some heavy political consequences for two or three or four Republicans, and there ought to be some heavy consequences for some conservative Democrats as well,” King said.

King suggested that the House could pass that 2015 legislation again quickly, but not everyone appears on board with that. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., said in a press release that Congress needs to repair the system.

“We must continue working to solve the issue of maintaining protections for those who benefit from the Affordable Care Act while radically rethinking how to bring down costs for those who can no longer afford insurance,” Fortenberry said. “Repeal with no replacement would be disastrous. Now is the time to slog through the hard issues — not at some mythical future date.”

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