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The Obamacare repeal effort was already in unstable condition. Now its status must be downgraded to critical and completely unserious.

After years of Republican yammering about the urgent need to repeal the Affordable Care Act and months of fruitless pursuit of an alternative, President Trump now says he may not unveil a replacement this year at all. And from Capitol Hill comes new word that Republicans arent even talking about a plan.

To be honest, theres not any real discussion taking place right now, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol. Corker, according to the Huffington Post, said he has no idea when Republicans might start drafting an alternative to Obamacare, adding, I dont see any congealing around ideas yet.

For seven years, opponents of the Affordable Care Act vowed to make its repeal their top concern, warning that the law would turn America overnight into a socialist dystopia. Now these opponents have unfettered control of the government and they arent even talking about repealing.

On Nov.1, a week before the election, Trump gave a speech pledging to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare.

But in his weekend interview with Fox Newss Bill OReilly, Trump said that maybe itll take till sometime into next year for his administration to unveil a new health-care plan. It is, the president said, very complicated.

So complicated, in fact, that he apparently wants nothing to do with it. At Trumps meeting with congressional leadership, Trump told the lawmakers Obamacare would be replaced with something better, and then he turned to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). And Pauls going to fill in the details. Right, Paul?

Right.

A secret recording of Republican lawmakers Obama-repeal talks late last month revealed angst and uncertainty about how to proceed and a great deal of worry that they would be blamed for whatever went wrong in the health-care market. Corker, in his talk with reporters this week, said that you would have heard more of the same in other meetings that werent recorded.

What Republicans dont seem to have come to terms with is that, as a political matter, they already will be held responsible for whatever happens to health-care markets, even if they dont introduce a replacement soon. An executive order Trump signed relaxing enforcement of Obamacare, and the constant talk of repeal, have injected a debilitating uncertainty into the health-care market essentially beginning the unraveling of Obamacare with nothing to replace it.

The executive order Trump signed directed federal agencies to do what they could to minimize the burdens of the act by exercising their authority to waive, defer, grant exemptions from or delay parts of the law. Insurers have warned that the uncertainty is deterring them from participating in Obamacare. The head of Anthem told Wall Street analysts that he would be deciding about extracting his company from health-care exchanges if it doesnt see stability.

This means that Republicans, while waiting for their alternative to congeal, have already set in motion the disintegration of the current health-insurance market. Its worse than the dog who caught the car, said Jesse Ferguson, a strategist advising Democrats on health care. Its the dog who somehow is now driving the car.

That would explain the series of erratic maneuvers weve seen from GOP lawmakers lately.

Take Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who in 2011 called Obamacare the single greatest assault on our freedom in my lifetime. It will destroy our health-care system. ... It must be repealed.

Now Johnson has shed the hysteria. Lets start working with Democrats, he said on CNBC. Lets transition to a system that will actually work, that, you know, Democrats are talking about. ... Its way more complex than simply repeal and replace.

Then theres Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). In 2014, he proclaimed that Obamacares damage cannot now be undone by delaying it or tinkering with it it must be repealed and replaced with the patient-centered plan proposed by House Republicans.

These days hes not so bold. Wed better be sure that were prepared to live with the market weve created, McClintock said in the recorded session with Republicans. Thats going to be called Trumpcare. Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and well be judged in the election less than two years away.

Or sooner. Arguably, Republicans already own the instability in the health-care system that their inaction has caused. Now that Trump is talking about delaying a health-care rollout for another year and Republican legislators arent even talking about an Obamacare alternative, its becoming clear what Trumpcare will look like: chaos.

Twitter: @Milbank

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What are Republicans going to do about Obamacare? 'No idea.' - Washington Post

Gov. Scott Walker acknowledges applause before his budget address Wednesday in the Capitol.(Photo: Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo

MADISON Gov. Scott Walker is banking on saving $60 million in taxpayer funds over two years by changing the way public employees get health insurance, but legislators are deeply skeptical of the proposal.

In the statebudget he unveiled Wednesday, the governor detailed plans to shift the state to a self-insurance system to cover employee health care costs. But his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature questioned whether the state could generate the savings Walker is counting on and said the change could hurt the insurance market for individuals and small businesses.

Republican legislators have resisted the proposal in the past.

"I still have the same concerns I had before," said Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee that will make changes to the budget over the coming months.

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The state's current approach gives employees a choice of health-maintenance organizations aligned with local providers. That forces them to compete on price and quality, particularly in the Madison area.

Under a self-insured program, the state would pay the actual cost of providing health care to its employees, instead of paying premiums to HMOs. The state and its employees would routinely set aside money similar to premiums to cover those costs.

Critics caution the state could wind up paying more for health care under such a system.

"I'm doubtful these savings are actually there," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said of Walker's plans.

The state Group Insurance Board approved the changes Wednesday, but lawmakers would need to sign off on them for them to take effect.

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Republicans resist Walker's insurance plan - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

BALTIMORE The House Democrats gathered here fortheir annual policy retreat are scheduled to attend a session Wednesday on Rumors, Truths and Reality. Later, theyll discuss Fighting for Our Principles with leaders of major activist groups. And then theyll hearPerspectives from the vice president of Third Way, a prominent centrist think tank.

That last session, showcasing a wing of the party that dominated Democratic politics for much of the past two decades, would not typically gain much notice. But those days are over: Progressive groups are incensed that lawmakers will be hearing perspectives that they argue have been thoroughly discredited in the wake oflast years election.

For House Democrats to seek advice from a Wall Street-funded think tank that preaches timidity, that shows them learning the exactly wrong lesson in the Trump era, said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. I think Democrats need to fight more strongly, with backbone, and not let Trump steal the mantle of economic populism.

[Some Democrats push for an economic message that goes beyond trashing Trump]

Jim Kessler, Third Ways senior vice president for policy,is set to address the retreat Wednesday evening during a half-hour session where, according a senior Democrat familiar with his planned remarks,he will make the case that the Democratic Party needs to grow geographically, demographically and ideologically not move decisively to the left to regain power. That is a strain of thought that represented Democratic orthodoxy in the 1990s, when the business-friendly Democratic Leadership Council held sway.

But it has since fallen out of favor, especially among progressives who believe Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would have better captured voter anger toward the political establishment as the 2016 Democratic president nominee. And now, they say, Third Ways politics are notwhat Democrats need to hear.

In their view, 2016 was a thorough rebuke of establishment-mindedcentrism and giving Third Way a platform to advocate for it is not a recipe for winning.And their angry response to centrism being given a platform at a party event reflects the hardball tactics they are using to shape the future of the Democratic Party.

Basically youre deciding were going to figure out our path forward with a bunch of losers, said Charles Chamberlain of Democracy for America, another activist group.

Erica Payne, founder of the Agenda Project, called it illogical to the point of absurdity to believe that Third Way could lead Democrats out of their electoral abyss and compared it to Republicans calling on former Florida governor and failed presidential candidate Jeb Bush for advice.

Third Way spokeswoman Ladan Ahmadi said in a statement that the group was honored to be invited to address House Democrats at their retreat. The House Democratic Leadership has always valued hearing from a diversity of voices that make up the progressive movement and this year isnt any different, she said.

Democratic aidesinvolved with the planning of the retreat noted that there are numerous other panels that featureprogressive-minded speakers, including Center for American Progress chief executive Neera Tanden, political strategist Cornell Belcher, analyst Mark Huelsman from the liberal think tank Demos and numerous leaders from labor unions and leftist activist groups. Its our belief you have to hear from everyone to chart the best path going forward, one of the staffers said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered a message of party unity at a news conference Wednesday: Atthis conference, Democrats at the end will show our values are in harmony.

Third Way, it should be noted, has hardly acted like Wall Street lobbyists or Trump accommodationists. During the presidential campaign, the group was strongly anti-Trump, and it has advocated for tougher financial regulations and higher taxes on the wealthy. In recent days, their social media accounts expressed opposition to Trumps efforts to roll back the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and Trumps nomination of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary.

What appears to be particularly vexing to the activists is that Kessler is getting a session to himself rather than sitting on a panel where his views might find a counterpoint. But more than that, progressives are taking the view thatThird Way-style centrists have no place inthe Democrats tent, period.

Its not a wing of the party anywhere outside of Washington, D.C., Green said. There are not people in West Virginiaand Ohio and Michigan rooting for Wall Street to get away with murder again.

Chamberlain argued that it wasthe Elizabeth Warren wing fighters who won congressional races in 2016, citing the Senate campaigns of Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.). More centrist candidates like Patrick Murphy (Fla.) and Evan Bayh (Ind.) lost.

Everywhere we won, we won from the Warren wing, he said. And whenwe lost, we lost from the corporatewing. It is disgusting, it is a disappointment that the Democratic establishment is still wanting to hear from these Wall Street losers at their retreat.

But there are significant counterpoints to that view: Russ Feingold, a beloved progressive former senator, lost his bid to reclaim his seat in Wisconsin to incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, as did unabashedly liberal Senate candidates such as Deborah Ross in North Carolina and Ted Strickland in Ohio. And in a closely watched House battle between an outspoken progressive and a moderate Republican, New York University law professor Zephyr Teachout lost her race for an Upstate New York House seat.

Green questioned why no progressive organizing groups were invited to address Democrats. He said his group asked for a role in the retreat after it learned Third Way would be represented but was told by organizers that it was too late.

Their role is to paper over the lessons of the last election and urge Democrats not to be more robust in their critique of Wall Street and establishment power, he said of Third Way. That is not the lesson Democrats need to learn right now.

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A centrist is addressing House Democrats, and progressives are furious - Washington Post

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Posted: Feb 09, 2017 12:01 AM

Earlier this week Nordstrom announced the retail giant will no longer sell Ivanka Trump brand products in stores, severing the previously held business relationship. Belk, Jet, ShopStyle and Home Shopping Network all followed suit.

In response to the move, President Donald Trump tweeted about the situation.

My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!

While its certainly highly inappropriate for President Trump to go after a private company on issues of family business now that hes in the Oval Office, he isn'twrong on the merits.

Ivanka Trump officially announced she was leaving her company in January ahead of her move to Washington D.C. to focus on new endeavors. One could argue this is no longer her brand or concern, but thats not the point. Its still her name, she built the business and because shes associated with her father, the left is out for blood. This isnt simply about Nordstrom or the other stores dropping the brand. Poor sales were cited for the decision, not politics, but its important to follow the money.

The Ivanka Trump brand is a victim of the Grab Your Wallet campaign, organized by leftist agitators who send mobs to intimidate companies and those who dare buy their products. Its one thing for boycotters to refuse patronage to certain businesses for any reason as individuals, but bullying others into doing the same is a different story. Not to mention, it won't be Ivanka Trump who suffers most from this wrath but instead everyday people working for the brand.

In their efforts and haste to make a statement about President Trump by going after his daughter, leftists, and particularly feminists, are depleting their own cause for tolerance by attacking a champion for women with a proven track record of female empowerment. They're also eroding their ideological path into the White House.

For years, Ivankas clothing line has been providing career women with inexpensive, fashionable options to look and feel their best in the work place. As superficial as that may sound, it matters. More importantly, shes been a staunch advocate for equal pay and flexibility in the workplace when female workers enter motherhood. Her soon to be published book, Women Who Work, promises to give young women the skills they need to have and manage it all.

Our grandmothers fought for the right to work. Our mothers fought for the choice to be in an office or to stay at home. Our generation is the first to fully embrace and celebrate the fact that our lives are multidimensional. Thanks to the women who came before us and paved the way, we can create the lives we want to leadwhich look different for each of us, she describes. Ive been fortunate to be able to build my career around my passions, from real estate to fashion. But my professional titles only begin to describe who I am and what I value. I have been an executive and an entrepreneur, but alsoand just as importantlya wife, mother, daughter, and friend. To me, 'work' encompasses my efforts to succeed in all of these areas.

Just this week Ivanka published a photo on Instagram with the caption, Taking a call in the White House with my personal assistant Theodore.

The photo shows Ivanka, dressed in black slacks and four-inch classic black pumps, managing a phone call while holding her smiling one-year-old son on her lap. Shes in the White House working and being a mother all at the same time. She is the epitome of an ambitious, versatile and successful career woman whos managed to find the coveted balance between family life and work.

At the 2016 RNC Convention, Ivanka gave a speech full of arguments often made by feminists (and Hillary Clinton!) about women in the workplace. At the time, liberal women praised her words and urged her to move over the Democrat ticket.

As President, my father will change the labor laws that were put into place at a time when women were not a significant portion of the workforce. And he will focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all, Trump said. As a mother myself, of three young children, I know how hard it is to work while raising a family. And I also know that I'm far more fortunate than most. American families need relief. Policies that allow women with children to thrive should not be novelties, they should be the norm.

He will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this too, right along side of him, she continued.

Most recently Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner, who serves as one of President Trumps senior advisors, were credited with squashing a proposed executive order to strip gay couples of federal benefits. The couple also reportedly pushed the White House to issue a strong statement in favor of LBGTQ rights, certainly in opposition to Trump's socially conservative advisors and campaign advocates.

President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election, the statement reads. The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump.

The Lefts best position to rein in President Trump on many issues they claim to care about is through his daughter, Ivanka Trump. After all, even he admits she is "always pushing him to do the right thing." To their detriment, they fail to see the opening through their blind hatred.

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Progressives, Nordstrom, And The Moronic Crusade Against Ivanka Trump - Townhall

Well, Sen. Elizabeth Warren managed to get herself squarely in the public spotlight again -- on the far-left spectrum of the Democratic Party where she's most comfortable.

In the process, Warren re-energized her progressive base, which had begun to doubt her liberal extremist credentials in light of her recent actions.

Always ready to manipulate the media when it suits her agenda -- and ignore them when it doesn't -- the senior senator from Massachusetts was at her grandstanding best on the U.S. Senate floor Tuesday night, where she was unceremoniously silenced for her attempts to impugn the character of Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Sessions, an Alabama Republican, just happens to be President Trump's very capable and competent attorney general nominee. Senate Democrats have made it their business to extend the process of approving Trump's Cabinet picks for as long as possible, since as the minority party, they don't have the votes to block them.

So Warren took to the Senate floor Tuesday night with the apparent attention of assailing the character of this respected conservative senator -- continuing to do so even after being warned her conduct was out of order.

That occurred earlier in the evening after Warren read past statements from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had called Sessions a "disgrace to the Justice Department."

No, Warren didn't employ her own extremist blather to cut the legs from under a colleague.

Forewarned that she ran the risk of violating Senate "Rule 19," which prohibits senators from "directly or indirectly" impugning the motives and conduct of a colleague, Warren pressed on.

She later attempted to read a letter sent to the Senate nearly 40 years ago by Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King, opposing Sessions' bid for a federal judgeship, in which King alleged Sessions conducted "a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters" in Alabama.

That's when Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell asked for a vote demanding Warren cease and desist, calling her actions a clear violation of Senate rules.

And along party lines, the Senate did exactly that. Warren, feigning disbelief, couldn't understand why she was silenced. She instantly regained the allegiance of her adoring progressive wingnuts for her courageous stand.

Their faith had been shaken by her support for Scott Brown, the Republican she defeated to win her Senate seat, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for her vote confirming former GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Obviously realizing her perceived ideological drift, Warren, whose political calculations revolve around her own ambitions, realized she needed a course correction -- a sharp left turn.

Sessions' nomination supplied that headline-grabbing opportunity.

It's too bad Democrats can't find a more measured instrument to voice their beliefs and concerns. They've allowed Warren to become the face of their party, which will remain out of touch with mainstream America as long as that's the case.

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Warren wins one for progressives, loses for the party - Lowell Sun