But in return, they would demand that Obama to do something he has long resisted: nix the employer and individual mandates for insurance coverage.

“Is the president going to say, ‘Tough, I’m going to veto that’?” Barrasso said in an interview in his Dirksen office. “There will be, as part of that [deal], things we want to have happen.”



The GOP is far from a consensus about how to react to a potential conservative victory in the case, just two months out from an expected ruling at the end of June. So far, Republicans have put forward more than a half-dozen proposals that they described as ObamaCare alternatives.



The common thread in those plans is some kind of temporary aid for people who could lose their subsidies, which Barrasso said would be the key bargaining chip in a deal with Obama.



But, in the event the justices rule against ObamaCare, Democrats will offer a simpler solution — passing a bill to fix the few sentences of the statute that are under scrutiny.