United States Capitol building
United States Capitol buildingiStock

Senate Republicans announced on Tuesday they would be delaying their effort to vote on legislation repealing ObamaCare until after the July 4 recess after a number of members said they opposed the current bill, The Hill reports.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told members of the decision on Tuesday at a closed-door meeting.

"He simply said I think we need more time to work on it, we don't have the votes right now," Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) was quoted as having told reporters after the meeting.

The House of Representatives passed the replacement bill in May by the narrowest of margins, 217 to 213 in the 435-member body.

On Monday, a Congressional Budget Office score on the measure found the Senate bill would leave 22 million more people without insurance compared to present law over the next decade, according to The Hill.

The analysis also found that the Senate bill would cause premiums to rise over the next two years, undercutting a GOP argument for the bill. Premiums would decrease starting in 2020, but it is unclear if that was enough for conservatives.

After the analysis was reached, a number of GOP senators said they would not back a procedural motion on the bill that had been set for Wednesday.

"We will not be on the bill this week," McConnell was quoted as having told dozens of reporters later on Tuesday. "We're going to continue the discussions in our conference."

Several senators said McConnell wants to have a vote when the Senate returns from its recess in July. They said they would be working the rest of the week on changes to the bill, with the hope of getting a new score from CBO by the time they return to Washington.

Trump, meanwhile, sounded an optimistic tone on the prospects for reaching an agreement on the bill.

At a White House meeting with GOP senators, Trump shrugged off the delay in the vote, saying "we're getting very close" to striking a deal.