Ron Johnson won't give up in his quest to repeal and replace Obamacare

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he's not giving up in his effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

Hours after Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate scrapped a vote on a Johnson co-sponsored health care bill, he faced an array of questions from constituents during a statewide telephone town hall Tuesday night.

Some questioners were upset at Republicans for failing to live up to their seven-year promise to ditch Obamacare, while others sought to make the case for a single-payer system.

"When it came right down to the moment of truth, unfortunately far too many Republicans didn't honor that promise, and in fact acted an awful lot like Democrats that they wanted to throw more money at the problem," Johnson said.

"That created a schism within our party and we weren't able to pass a bill."

The bill that Johnson co-sponsored with Republican Senators LIndsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Dean Heller of Nevada sought to repeal Obamacare and replace it with block grants to the states.

Republicans tried to pass the legislation through what's known as budget reconciliation, which meant they needed only 50 votes to succeed. But facing a tight deadline, they couldn't muster the votes.

Johnson said he was hopeful that the bill could be passed later. But to do it under reconciliation, and avoid a Democratic filibuster, they would have to pass another budget blueprint. That's a tough lift since Republicans are about to embark on a tax overhaul.

Johnson said a delay in the legislation would give Republicans time to talk with Democrats "and find those that are genuinely interested in fixing this problem (and) solving this mess."

During the call, Johnson revealed he was supposed to lead a congressional delegation to Puerto Rico on Friday to survey the damage from Hurricane Maria. But the trip was canceled because there was so much devastation.

"This is going to be a massive recovery," he said. "It's not going to take days and weeks."