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It should have been smooth sailing. Senate Republicans combined two of their top policy priorities into a bill that can pass later this week without any Democrats. Instead, this week’s vote will cap a protracted, behind-the-scenes campaign to find enough GOP votes for legislation that would both repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood Federation of America. (Peterson, 12/1)

Senate Republican leaders seem to have carried out a delicate balancing act in their drive to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law and close the federal funds spigot to Planned Parenthood. They're poised to push through a measure that would bestow victories on both conservative Republicans and moderates, senators confronting the more competitive 2016 re-election races. For his part, Obama is primed to veto the bill when it reaches his desk. And Democrats say the GOP exercise is a partisan charade aimed at setting up Republicans to use the health care law as a wedge issue in the election campaign next year. (Fram, 12/2)

The Senate will vote as early as Thursday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a purely symbolic exercise that has played out gazillions of times in Congress. What's different this time, though, is that the bill is expected to make it to President Barack Obama's desk. (Barron-Lopez and Bendery, 12/1)

Senate Republican leaders say they will finally realize their long-sought goal of sending an Obamacare repeal to the president's desk — but likely only by the narrowest of margins. After months of tweaking the measure to secure the pivotal 51 votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) can afford only three GOP defections if he wants to pass the measure. ... McConnell was able to mollify concerns from conservatives such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that the bill didn’t go far enough by adding a repeal of the law’s Medicaid expansion and subsidies that help consumers purchase health coverage on the Obamacare exchanges. And he allayed worries from senators in states that expanded Medicaid by delaying the repeal for two years — enough time, in theory, to find replacement health care for lower-income Americans. (Kim and Haberkorn, 12/1)