‘I Think It’s Over’: Senators Ready To Move On From Repeal Efforts

The Associated Press: Senate GOP Sees No Path On Health Care, Despite Trump Prods
Top Senate Republicans think it's time to leave their derailed drive to scrap the Obama health care law behind them. And they're tired of the White House prodding them to keep voting until they succeed. Several GOP leaders said Monday that at least for now, they saw no clear route to the 50 votes they'd need to get something — anything — recasting President Barack Obama's health care statute through the Senate. (Fram, 8/1)

Politico: Republicans Ignore Trump's Obamacare Taunts
Senate Republicans have no plans to revive their party-line attempts to repeal Obamacare this summer, despite President Donald Trump’s increasing frustration over the chamber’s failed attempts last week to gut the law. "Until somebody shows us a way to get that elusive 50th vote, I think it's over,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican. “Maybe lightning will strike and something will come together but I'm not holding my breath." (Everett and Haberkorn, 7/31)

Los Angeles Times: Senior GOP Senators Serve Notice: No Action On Healthcare At This Point
Trump administration officials continue to push the Senate to take another run at healthcare legislation, but on Monday senior Republican senators pushed back, making clear that they're done with the topic for now. "There's just too much animosity and we're too divided on healthcare," Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the head of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview with Reuters. (Lauter, 7/31)

The Hill: Bipartisan Group Floats ObamaCare Fixes 
Dozens of House lawmakers from both parties unveiled a series of proposals on Monday designed to fix problems dogging the Affordable Care Act. “The last great hope for this country is that Republicans and Democrats prove they can work together,” Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), co-chairman of the Problem Solvers Caucus, said in a statement. (Lillis, 7/31)

Politico: Schumer: Republicans Have Been In Touch About Health Care
Sen. Chuck Schumer said Monday he has heard from 10 of his Republican colleagues in response to his call for a bipartisan approach to health care legislation. “No one thought Obamacare was perfect — it needs a lot of improvements,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said after an unrelated news conference at Albany Medical Center. “We’re willing to work in a bipartisan way to do it. What we objected to was just pulling the rug out from it and taking away the good things that it did: Medicaid coverage for people with parents in nursing homes, for opioid treatment, for kids with disabilities, pre-existing conditions.” (Vielkind, 7/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Threatens Insurer Payments To Push Congress On Health-Law Repeal
President Donald Trump warned Monday that he could end federal payments to insurers, allowing them to be “hurt” by the Affordable Care Act, as a way to press members of Congress to revive efforts to repeal the Obama-era health law. “If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. The president was alluding to the ACA’s “cost-sharing reduction” payments, which the government pays to insurers to help them cut deductibles and other costs for low-income consumers. (Hackman, Hughes and Wilde Mathews, 7/31)

Los Angeles Times: Can Trump Really Cut Health Insurance Payments For Members Of Congress And Their Staff? It Would Be Easy
Reeling from the failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Trump now threatens to block federal funding that lawmakers and their staff rely on to help buy health insurance. Trump's threats are not empty. The administration could simply stop the payments -- which are provided to Capitol Hill lawmakers and staff much the way many employers help pay employees' monthly insurance premiums -- by dashing off new federal regulation. (Mascaro, 7/31)