Deep Divisions May Provoke GOP Leaders Into Doing Previously Unthinkable: Working With Democrats
Republicans have shunned any talks about bipartisan efforts before, but they've stumbled trying to go it alone. Either way, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is on the hunt for votes.
The New York Times:
As Affordable Care Act Repeal Teeters, Prospects For Bipartisanship Build
With his bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act in deep trouble, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, raised an alternate possibility on Tuesday: Either Republicans come together, or he would have to work with Democrats to shore up the deteriorating health law. That raised a tantalizing prospect: bipartisanship. (Pear and Kaplan, 6/28)
The Washington Post:
McConnell Is Trying To Revise The Senate Health-Care Bill By Friday
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is aiming to send a revised version of his health-care bill to the Congressional Budget Office as soon as Friday as he continues to push for a vote before Congress’s August recess. The effort reflects the tight timeline McConnell faces in his attempt to hold a vote in July — and the pressure he is under to change the bill to garner enough support to pass it. With both conservatives and centrists pushing different policy solutions, Senate leaders were struggling to craft a rewrite of the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday that would attract votes without torpedoing the CBO’s official score of how the legislation affects coverage levels and federal spending. (Sullivan, Eilperin and Snell, 6/28)
The Associated Press:
Little Progress Evident As GOP Hunts Health Bill Votes
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is exploring options for salvaging the battered Republican health care bill, even as he confronts an expanding chorus of GOP detractors. That is deepening the uncertainty over whether the party can resuscitate its promise to repeal President Barack Obama's overhaul. (6/29)
Politico:
Trump Teases 'Big Surprise' On Senate Obamacare Repeal Effort
President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that “a big surprise” could be coming in the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, a tease that came hours after the president predicted that Senate Republicans are “going to get at least very close” to passing their stalled health care bill. “And just to do a little official business, health care is working along very well. We could have a big surprise with a great health care package. So, now they're happy,” Trump said, gesturing to a group of reporters during a meet-and-greet with the visiting World Series champion Chicago Cubs. (Nelson, 6/28)
Politico:
Trump To Warring GOP Senators: I'm On Your Side
Rand Paul and Susan Collins are on opposite ends of the Republican Party when it comes to health care, yet somehow the two senators both left this week’s Obamacare repeal meetings with President Donald Trump thinking he’s on their side. Paul wants to gut as much of Obamacare as possible and recalled after his one-on-one meeting that the president “realizes that moderates have gotten everything so far” on the health care talks. The centrist Collins, on the other hand, left a larger Tuesday gathering with the president sure that he still wants to make the bill’s health care offerings more robust, explaining that “he did leave me with that impression.” (Everett and Dawsey, 6/28)
The Washington Post:
How The Push For A Senate Health-Care Vote Fell Apart Amid GOP Tensions
Sen. Dean Heller was sitting two seats away from President Trump and facing his grim-faced colleagues this week when he decided to crack a pointed joke. Heller — a square-jawed, sandy-haired moderate Republican — said the attack ads against him, paid for by a Trump-allied super PAC, should have used his own image instead of actor Matt Damon’s. There were scattered laughs, including a chuckle from Trump. But many of the Republican lawmakers lining tables in the East Room stayed mute. (Costa, Sullivan, Eilperin and Snell, 6/28)
The Associated Press:
Analysis: For GOP Congress, An Imperative On Health Care
Congressional Republicans are stymied over health care. But after seven years of promising to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's law, they risk political disaster if they don't deliver. Republicans anticipate a major backlash from GOP voters if they don't make good on the promises that swept them to control of the House and Senate and helped propel Donald Trump to the White House in last year's elections. (6/29)
The Associated Press Fact Check:
Warped Reality In Health Debate
The superheated argument over the Republican drive to overhaul health care has not been the finest moment for accuracy. Here's a sampling of claims from both sides as Senate Republicans struggle to revive their stalled legislation. (Woodward and Drinkard, 6/29)
The Washington Post:
What You Need To Know About Preexisting Conditions In The Senate GOP Health Plan
This week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) delayed the vote on the Senate health-care plan until after the Fourth of July holiday to give lawmakers a chance to study the bill and work out a new compromise to overhaul the 2010 Affordable Care Act. As with the House version that passed in May, Democrats have criticized the impact that the Senate bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), would have on people with preexisting medical conditions. They argue that the BCRA would no longer protect Americans with preexisting conditions, despite the bill’s explicit ban on states waiving coverage based on preexisting conditions. Yet a Republican opponent of the bill criticized it for not repealing the protection enough. What is going on? (Lee, 6/28)
Politico:
Both Sides Push For Edge In Health Care Fight
The Senate GOP’s Obamacare repeal effort may have stumbled, but activists on the right and left hustled into action on Wednesday to try to shape the rewrite on one side — or kill the bill outright, on the other. Liberals capped their third straight day of massive demonstrations against repeal by drawing a thousand-plus demonstrators to the Capitol, while gearing up to pressure moderate GOP lawmakers in their home states during next week’s recess. (Schor and Cancryn, 6/28)
The Washington Post:
How Trump Is A Little Bit Right And A Lot Bit Wrong About Medicaid
President Trump on Wednesday said that the Republican plan to change Medicaid would lead to an increase in spending, not a cut, accusing Democrats of having “purposely misstated” the facts. In a literal sense, he's right. The total amount of money spent on Medicaid under the Senate Republican plan would grow, albeit slowly, from 2017 to 2026. (Paletta and Johnson, 6/28)
NPR:
Veterans Who Rely On Medicaid Fear GOP's Planned Cuts
Air Force veteran Billy Ramos, from Simi Valley, Calif., is 53 and gets health insurance for himself and for his family from Medicaid — the government insurance program for lower-income people. He says he counts on the coverage, especially because of his physically demanding work as a self-employed contractor in the heating and air conditioning business. (O'Neill, 6/28)
Politico:
Polls Show GOP Health Bill Bleeding Out
Republican efforts to craft a new health care bill just hit another roadblock: An avalanche of public polling data dropped Wednesday, showing support for the legislation is under 20 percent. That’s bad enough, but it’s not just the topline numbers that are near rock-bottom. Few voters think the bill will make the health care system or their own care better. And many of the policy changes in the various versions of GOP health legislation — like decreasing federal funding for Medicaid — are profoundly unpopular. (Shepard, 6/28)