WATCH: White House expected to address health care debate in news briefing

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is likely to field questions about the Senate’s health care debate in a Thursday news briefing at the White House.

Sanders is expected to speak after 1:45 p.m. ET. Watch live in the player above.

Battered by repeated failures to repeal or replace “Obamacare,” Senate GOP leaders retreated to a narrow approach Thursday that would undo just a few of the most unpopular elements of Barack Obama’s law. Democrats vowed opposition as the Senate prepared for a bizarre Capitol Hill ritual, a “vote-a-rama” on amendments that promised to last into the wee hours of Friday morning.

READ MORE: What happened when these states implemented a ‘skinny repeal’ of the Affordable Care Act

The so-called “skinny repeal” was being touted as a way for Republicans to get something, anything, out of the Senate after frittering away the first six months of Donald Trump’s presidency trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the current law. Talks with the House would follow, with the hope of crafting a compromise repeal-and-replace bill that could pass both chambers sometime in the fall.

Whether Republicans can make it that far looks iffy at best. But Trump tweeted his encouragement Thursday morning, albeit with an ominous touch: “Come on Republican Senators, you can do it on Healthcare. After 7 years, this is your chance to shine! Don’t let the American people down!”

PBS NewsHour will update this story as it develops.