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President Donald Trump’s ability to land his first major legislative achievement, on health care, now rests with a Republican who kept a studied distance from the party’s nominee during the campaign and since: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentuckian didn’t campaign with the president and rarely mentioned him. Shortly before the 2016 election, Mr. McConnell told businesspeople in his state that if they expected him to talk about the presidential race, they “might as well go ahead and leave.” Since the election, his most public engagement with the president has come in his admonitions to lay off Twitter. (Hughes, 7/9)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking a risk by calling for a bipartisan health-care plan if the Republican-only bill fails: While his comments may encourage conservatives to fall in line with his approach, party moderates may be emboldened to abandon the GOP legislation. McConnell told a home-state Kentucky audience Thursday that if Republicans can’t “agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to the private health insurance market must occur.” (Litvan, 7/7)

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Friday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) opened a door to working with Democrats to fix the Affordable Care Act. Baldwin was reacting to statements McConnell made Thursday at a Rotary Club luncheon in southern Kentucky. (Glauber, 7/7)

A leading House conservative is warning Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) he should not quit fighting to pass legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare through the Senate. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is not happy about talk that Senate Republicans might give up that effort and instead work with Democrats on legislation to shore up troubled insurance markets. (Bolton, 7/7)

The minority leaders have said for weeks that the Democrats were ready to bargain with the GOP and the White House on virtually any issue provided the Republicans abandoned their effort to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature program. According to several policy experts, here are five areas where a bipartisan health care compromise might be struck. (Pianin, 7/8)