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Sen. Mike Lee has taken a bunch of criticism from within the Republican Party after his opposition to a bill that would replace the Affordable Care Act essentially torpedoed the effort.
Among those grumbling is his Utah colleague, Sen. Orrin Hatch.
"I don't see him looking for a path to yes. It seems like he's against everything right now," Hatch said in an interview with Politico. "That's the way it looks to me."
Lee said Hatch's criticism "stunned" him.
"I am surprised that he would purport to know what my thoughts and intents were, what I was thinking or intending. He could not be more wrong," Lee said in a lengthy Politico interview Thursday in which he explained his opposition to the GOP plan.
On Monday, Lee and Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas jointly announced their intention to vote against the latest Republican plan to replace the health law known as Obamacare. Their "no" votes, joining those of two other Republicans who announced their opposition earlier, were enough to stop the bill from moving forward.
Lee said he wanted the GOP plan to strip back more of the tax increases that paid for Obamacare, and he wanted the measure to lower premiums for more people.
Republican leaders had tried to win Lee's support by adding a provision that would allow states to offer stripped-down health plans as long as there was at least one that met the full Obamacare requirements. That idea was championed by Lee, and the senator vowed to oppose the bill if it wasn't included. That he still opposed the measure, when his idea was added, frustrated some GOP senators.
Lee resents accusations from people, such as Hatch, who make him seem like an obstructionist, whose action helped save the health care law he's fought against since joining the Senate in 2011.
"I'm not being an absolutist," he told Politico. "I'm a little frustrated by some who are eager and willing to call me out for saying this doesn't go far enough in doing what we promised to do for seven years."
Like President Donald Trump, Lee has now called for the Senate to vote on a straight repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay to craft a replacement. So far, it doesn't appear as if the Republicans have enough votes to start that debate, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has promised to schedule a vote on the repeal effort next week.