Here’s how it could be done: While the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the repeal push under fiscal 2017 must die after Sept. 30, Republicans could provide reconciliation instructions for both health care and tax reform in the fiscal 2018 budget resolution that Congress must pass to again unlock the fast-track procedural powers. That might entail some procedural hurdles, but one GOP aide said Monday that because the Finance Committee has jurisdiction over about 95 percent of health care policy, “it’s not like we couldn’t slip it in anyway.”

Alternatively, Republicans could reserve the fiscal 2018 budget for tax reform as planned, but then take up a budget for fiscal 2019 early next year and write reconciliation instructions that addresses Obamacare repeal in that resolution, according to GOP sources. Doing so would put the contentious issue of health care back in the spotlight during the 2018 midterm elections.