Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), accompanied by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), speaks during a press conference about their resistance to the so-called "Skinny Repeal" of the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, July 27, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

Ryan responded that "the House is willing" to convene a conference committee with the Senate to that end. But it was unclear whether the speaker's response would satisfy the senators' demands, leaving health legislation in limbo once again at a crucial moment.

The convoluted developments played out as a divided Senate debated legislation to repeal and replace Democrat Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. With Democrats unanimously opposed, the slender GOP majority was divided among itself over what it could agree to.

After a comprehensive bill failed on the Senate floor, and a straight-up repeal failed too, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his top lieutenants turned toward a lowest-common-denominator solution known as "skinny repeal." It would package repeal of a few of the most unpopular pieces of the 2010 law, along with a few other measures, with the goal of getting something, anything, out of the Senate.

That would be the ticket to negotiations with the House, which passed its own legislation in May.

But that plan caused consternation among GOP senators after rumors began to surface that the House might just pass the "skinny bill," call it a day and move on to other issues like tax reform after frittering away the first six months of Donald Trump's presidency on unsuccessful efforts over health care.