The repeal forces are backing a bill under development by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would give states block grants to implement their health care programs. Vice President Mike Pence met with Cassidy and Graham to discuss the effort on Wednesday, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — who killed the GOP’s “skinny” repeal effort in July — said he’s open to the plan.

But the bill is not yet fully written, and both Graham and Cassidy refused to share details about what it would do.

“You’ll know something by the end of the week, one way or another,” Graham said.

Alexander is focusing on a bill that would fund for at least one year Obamacare’s cost-sharing payments, which reduce out-of-pocket costs and which President Donald Trump has threatened to pull. The Senate HELP Committee chairman signaled Wednesday that he’s open to a longer funding stream — and he also wants to provide new flexibility to a state waiver program in the health care law.

Alexander wants to shorten the six-month period CMS now has to review waivers and give states fast-track approval if they want to use a waiver concept that’s already been approved for another state. A politically diverse group of insurance commissioners told senators at a HELP Committee hearing Wednesday that the process is now too cumbersome and slow.

“The more we could streamline that process, the better off we’d be,” Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller said.

Murray has said she would not support any waiver changes that undermine Obamacare consumer protections. But Republicans will need some structural changes in exchange for support from their side of the aisle.

There appears to be growing support for providing federal backing for state reinsurance programs — financial backstops that help pay for insurers’ costliest patients — although it is unclear whether that could be accomplished by the end of the month. Democrats have called for a national plan, and Alexander conceded it could conceivably win GOP support; although some Republicans liken reinsurance to a “bailout.”

“It would add market competition,” Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak said at the hearing. “It would entice insurers back into the market because it would provide economic certainty.”

Alexander is loath to broaden the committee’s ambitions, suggesting it’d be difficult to speed a bill through Congress that pours more funding into Obamacare.

“If we can do two things, that’ll be two more things we’ve agreed on in a bipartisan way in the last seven years, in health insurance,” Alexander said, adding that a reinsurance program would likely be costly. “That would take new money. That’d be hard to do.”

There is widespread interest in what Alexander and Murray are trying to do. Thirty-one senators attended a closed-door meeting with insurance commissioners before Wednesday’s hearing.

There is a small core of support for their effort in the House. Forty members of the bipartisan Problem-Solvers Caucus, led by Trump ally Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and moderate Democrat Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), are backing a proposal similar to Alexander’s. But their version would also significantly curtail the employer mandate to have it apply only to companies with more than 500 employees, the vast majority of which already provide health coverage. The group met Tuesday with several senators, including Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

“There was a sense of optimism that what Lamar Alexander and what Patty Murray are working on does have some legs and could be the initial foundation of success on which bigger success could be built,” Reed said in an interview.

Reed, who is bullish about action before the end of the month, said Trump’s effort to strike a debt limit and government funding deal with Democrats would clear the decks so lawmakers could spend more time focusing on health care this September. He added that the next two weeks will be a make-or-break time for any progress: “If it’s going to happen, its going to happen in the next two weeks in the Senate.”

But not everyone is excited.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, referred to Alexander’s effort as a “bailout for insurance companies.” And some House members back what Graham and Cassidy are trying to do.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, has been working with Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) to try to move Graham’s bill. The duo struck a deal last spring that ultimately saved the House’s stalled health care repeal effort; now they’re hoping to be instrumental again.

Meadows in an interview Wednesday said he’s hopeful that Graham can rally enough support for his bill and that he needs to move “sooner rather than later” to beat the Sept. 30 deadline.

“They’re working very diligently on the legislative text,” Meadows said. “Senator Graham has done an outstanding job of trying to get all the stakeholders involved, both moderate and conservative members. It has real merits.”

Meadow predicted the parallel push by Alexander and Murray could pass the House — but only with the support of Democrats.

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.