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Sen. Rand Paul was joined by House Democrats in a literal treasure hunt through the Capitol Thursday in search of House Republicans Obamacare replacement bill. They didnt find it.

It was a rare bipartisan stunt, inspired by the unusual secrecy surrounding the GOPs bill. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported the bill was being kept in a reading room in the Capitol and only available for members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and their staff to read, in an attempt to avoid leaks to the press.

Paul announced on Twitter that he was heading to the secure location where the bill was being held, and soon drew a sizable gaggle of reporters and cameras.

When Paul finally entered the room, it was empty the bill had, reportedly, been moved.

But House Democrats couldnt let a good messaging opportunity go to waste. A number of them joined what quickly became a hunt through the Capitol for the bill, with lawmakers trailing reporters as they poked their heads into random offices to see if they could find the bill. New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone poked his head into Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys office to see if it was in there.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted a photo of bloodhounds on the hunt at Paul in support of his search, which Paul retweeted.

In an impromptu press conference outside of House leaderships offices, Paul likened the move to hide the bill to Democrats handling of Obamacare in 2009.

If you recall where Obamacare was passed in 2009, 2010, Nancy Pelosi said well know whats in it after we pass it. The Republican Party shouldnt act in the same way, Paul said.

This is being presented as if it were a national secret, as it if it were a plot to invade another country thats wrong. It should be done openly in the public. And conservatives who have objections that dont want Obamacare-lite should be able to see the bill.

Paul is one of a significant numberof conservatives in both the House and the Senate who panned the House GOPs Obamacare alternative when an early draft was leaked last week, making it a non-starter for Republicans. Theyre trying to avoid a similar situation with the final draft by orchestrating a quick turnaround from the time the release the bill, to marking it up, to bringing it to the floor for a vote.

And though Republicans planned to unveil the bill on the Hill this week, the rollout has been delayed as staffers put some final touches on the policy to make it more politically palatable and less costly.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, of Texas, told reporters that there in fact was no final bill. While the broad contours of the policy have been written, he said staffers are still making tweaks to it.

We dont have a bill. We continue to work with the [Congressional Budget Office] and our members on the final policy decisions, he said.

Brady had met with Senate Republicans Wednesday to brief them on the final bill and try to assuage concerns of some of the Senates more conservative members, like Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, both of whom have said they cant support the draft House healthcare bill. Brady seemed to hint that, even with staffers tweaking the bill to appease conservatives, its future in the Senate was uncertain.

Asked whether he felt all of the Senate Republicans were on-board with the legislation, Brady said only, Youll have to ask them. I felt very good about the discussion.

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Where's the health care bill? - VICE News

Being Libertarian LLC is proud to announce that it will, through its media division, Being LibertTV, be entering into a comprehensive, strategic, long-term relationship with Liberty Link Media Group, the popular venture started by Nicholas Veser and his wife, Dr. Dawn Sheehan

Being Libertarians Director of Media, Michael J. Mazzarone, described the terms of the partnership in a statement:

I cant begin to say how excited I am about this partnership. Nicholas is a talent all of his own and honestly, hes more than a talent, hes a businessman. This is why we clicked instantly in our initial discussions. Our shared vision was immediately apparent and I believe that the Being Libertarian and Being LiberTV brand mixed with the unparalleled production quality of Liberty Link Media Group will translate into a superior multimedia platform for libertarians everywhere.

Mazzarone continued:

I would also like to acknowledge that once finalized, all Liberty Link Media Group libertarian video content will be branded and distributed through Being Libertarians vast media network. This includes Your Daily Headline, which will be coming to Being LiberTV. In doing so, Nicholas Veser and his team have joined the Being Libertarian team as content producers for the brand.

Being Libertarian has a mission that all freedom lovers can get behind, and we at Liberty Link Media Group are proud to enter into this partnership with such a prolific and dedicated organization. This joint venture will help to push liberty to the forefront of American politics, said Veser.

Being LiberTVs Assistant Director and co-founder for Being Libertarian, Eric July, echoed these sentiments.

I am absolutely stoked to be partnering up with Nicholas and Liberty Link Media. They bring a level of expertise that is much needed for our brand, and vice versa. This will grow into a very special and productive squadron in the upcoming years.

This post was written by Mike Mazzarone.

The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.

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Being Libertarian, Liberty Link Media Group Announce Strategic Media Partnership - Being Libertarian

House Republicans, despite stiff political headwinds, are readying an ambitious push this week to begin moving legislation to replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act, a crucial test of their ability to fulfill one of their partys main campaign promises.

The plan marks the first time GOP lawmakers will do this since Obamacare was enacted seven years ago and will provide an early indication of whether President Trump can rally his partys members of Congress, many of whom are anxious about how to repeal and replace the healthcare law.

The legislation could affect health insurance for tens of millions of Americans not only those with Obamacare coverage, but also people with employer-provided insurance and Medicaid.

The House legislation which was being finalized over the weekend, according to GOP officials aims to fundamentally restructure the system that Obamacare created, which has extended health coverage to more than 20 million previously uninsured Americans.

GOP plans call for scrapping insurance marketplaces that require insurers to offer a basic set of benefits and that provide government subsidies to help low- and moderate-income Americans who dont get health benefits at work to buy health plans.

Republican legislation would lift many requirements for benefits that plans must cover. And it would create a new system of subsidies that are linked to consumers age, rather than their income, according to leaked drafts. That would make insurance harder to buy for millions of Americans, especially low-income working people, outside analyses suggest.

GOP leaders would eliminate taxes that have helped offset the cost of Obamacares coverage expansion, including taxes on medical device makers and insurance companies and on households making more than $250,000 a year.

Instead, Republicans are proposing to tax the health insurance that employers provide their workers. Employer-provided benefits are currently tax-free. The change could cause the price of insurance that many Americans get on the job to go up.

The House plan would phase out hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid that has allowed many states to expand their Medicaid programs to millions more poor Americans.

House Republicans also want to give states more flexibility to reshape their Medicaid programs, allowing states to potentially limit benefits or require poor patients to pay more for their medical care.

The GOP plan would eliminate Obamacares unpopular insurance mandate, which requires Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty.

In its place, House Republicans have proposed to allow insurers to charge higher premiums to Americans who let their insurance lapse.

Most of these proposals are deeply controversial, even within Republican ranks. That is a big reason why Republicans have not previously moved forward with a plan to replace Obamacare.

"There is not a consensus at this point," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Sunday on CBS News Face the Nation.

White House officials and senior GOP lawmakers nevertheless are sounding upbeat.

We're putting the finishing touches on our plan, Vice President Mike Pence said in Wisconsin on Friday on a trip with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to visit House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in his district.

And House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), whose committee could hold a hearing on proposed legislation as soon as this week, said hes confident the president is behind the House plan. There was no mistaking he is exactly on the same page as House Republicans, Brady said.

Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have suggested Congress could send President Trump legislation as soon as this month, even though Republican leaders as of Sunday had still not released the text of their healthcare legislation.

Obamacare 101: A periodic primer on the Affordable Care Act

While the Republican-led Congress did pass a bill to repeal large parts of Obamacare, which President Obama vetoed last year, this marks the first time the party will offer a replacement bill and subject it to the scrutiny of congressional hearings and the legislative process.

But the GOP faces mounting opposition from major advocacy groups representing patients, doctors, hospitals and now even businesses, a traditional Republican ally.

At the same time, internal GOP divisions threaten to derail the legislative campaign before it even gets off the ground.

Leading conservatives in the House and Senate have said they will oppose any legislation that does not fully repeal Obamacare, while many Republican senators and governors representing states with major coverage gains have voiced serious reservations about rolling back too much of the existing law.

Conservatives have criticized the House GOP plan as Obamacare-lite, accusing party leaders of replacing one tax-funded government entitlement with another.

Theyre going to have a new tax, a new government subsidy program and a new [insurance] mandate, charged Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has rallied against the plan with the conservative House Freedom Caucus and influential outside groups such as Heritage Action and the Club for Growth.

Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell need to stand up to those in the Republican Party who are fighting to retain and repair Obamacare, rather than repeal and replace it, said David McIntosh, president of the free market advocacy group Club for Growth, which is known for backing primary election challenges to wayward Republicans.

Together, the conservatives have the votes to potentially tank the House GOP plan because to pass any healthcare legislation, Republican leaders cannot afford to lose more than 18 votes in the House.

Their margins, especially in the Senate, but also in the House, are thin, warned National Retail Federation vice president Neil Trautwein, a former aid to McConnell.

They have a better chance of getting this out of the House, but its not automatic, even though they are taking draconian steps to get their caucus in line. And what they are doing with this secrecy and locked rooms isnt helping.

House Republican leaders came under fire last week for only allowing committee members to view drafts of proposed healthcare legislation in a first-floor room of the Capitol that was off limits to Democrats and even Senate Republicans.

Many advocacy organizations are urging House Republicans to slow down and allow more time for independent assessments of the legislation.

To date, the independent Congressional Budget Office, which lawmakers rely on to calculate the effect of proposed bills, has not released an estimate of how much Republicans plans would cost and how many people could lose health coverage.

Making substantial changes to our healthcare system by changing current law would impact tens of millions of our patients, Dr. Nitin S. Damle, president of the American College of Physicians, said in a letter to House committee leaders last week.

Congress therefore must avoid any unintended adverse consequences, the letter said, calling for an open and transparent legislative process.

Under the current GOP plan, the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees are expected to hold hearings on different pieces of the legislation as soon as this week.

That could allow the full House to vote on an Obamacare repeal bill by as early as the end of the month and send it to the Senate, where a much longer debate is expected.

John Desser, a former health official in the George W. Bush administration and former aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), predicted Ryan would rally his caucus and get the 218 votes hell need.

The speaker has lived and breathed health policy for over two decades, and may just be perfectly positioned to bring together his conference and explain the opportunity they have to get this right to reluctant or recalcitrant members, he said.

But Desser, now a vice president for eHealth, an online insurance marketplace, cautioned that other challenges await.

Getting it through the Senate after that may require the gravity-defying leadership of Mr. Trump and his team, he said.

noam.levey@latimes.com

@noamlevey

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Facing big political hurdles, House Republicans ready an ambitious legislative push to repeal Obamacare - Los Angeles Times

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump peers out into the crowd during a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona.Ralph Freso Getty Images

Updated: Mar 05, 2017 8:04 PM UTC

Republican lawmakers want more information from President Trump following his unsubstantiated allegations that former President Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate intelligence committee that is currently investigating Trump's team's ties to Russia, said Sunday during a "Meet The Press" interview that he has seen "no evidence" to support Trump's claims that were laid out in a series of tweets early Saturday morning .

"I'd imagine the President and the White House in the days to come will outline further what was behind that accusation," Rubio said. "The President put that out there, and now the White House will have to answer as to exactly what he was referring to."

And while many prominent Republicans have not addressed the topic, a few others joined Rubio in asking the President to release more information regarding his allegations, which Trump likened in a tweet to "Nixon/Watergate."

"It would be more helpful if he turned over to the intelligence committee any evidence he has," Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is also a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation .

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton echoed his colleagues during an interview on Fox News Sunday . "It doesn't mean that none of these things have happened, just means I haven't seen them yet," he said.

Trump has not clarified the source of his information, but many have pointed to a Brietbart News story that was broadcast Friday about the FBI obtaining warrants to monitor his campaign as part of an investigation into its alleged Russian ties.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer called on Congress to conduct a probe and called the news "very troubling" in a statement Sunday.

House Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes said on Sunday that his panel will include Trump's allegations into his current investigation of Russia meddling in the 2016 election. The committee "will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party's campaign officials or surrogates," Nunes said in a statement.

More here:
'No Evidence': Republican Lawmakers Want Answers About President Trump's Wiretapping Claim - Fortune

Republicans on Capitol Hill are turning their attention to repealing another signature accomplishment of President Obama: the 2010 Wall Street reform law.

Key lawmakers are eyeing a special budgetary to pass repeal legislation in the Senate on a simple majority vote, bypassing Democrats.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, says the budgetary process known as reconciliation, which can be used to circumvent the filibuster, should be considered as a tool to roll back burdensome Obama-era regulations on the financial sector.

Some Republicans say that rolling back the Wall Street reform law should be one of their highest priorities.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin HatchOrrin HatchRepublicans eye strategy for repealing Wall Street reform Two Republicans sign on to effort demanding Trumps tax returns Senate panel approves pick for Medicaid and Medicare chief MORE (R-Utah) told Bloomberg television last month that the law is worse than ObamaCare.

I think its one of the worst bills thats ever been passed through Congress, Hatch said, adding that he did not think any of its provisions were worth saving.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles SchumerCharles SchumerConservative radio host: 'Evidence is overwhelming' of Obama spying Pelosi rips Trump tweets: 'Deflector-in-Chief is at it again' Top Obama adviser to Trump: 'No president can order a wiretap' MORE (N.Y.) in November said he had enough votes to block any Republican efforts to repeal key parts of the Wall Street reform law, known as Dodd-Frank.

But it would be considerably harder for Schumer to stand in the way if Republicans use reconciliation to repeal the parts of Dodd-Frank that affect government spending and revenues.

Democrats "don't have to agree to everything on reconciliation, Shelby noted.

Asked whether congressional committees would be given instructions to repeal parts of the Wall Street reform law in a budget resolution later this year, Shelby said, "We've been talking about a lot of stuff."

The effort has been kept largely quiet, however. It was not one of the items highlighted on the 200-day agenda that Republicans discussed at their annual retreat in Philadelphia, and President Trump did not mention Wall Street during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellRepublicans eye strategy for repealing Wall Street reform House, Senate leaders avoid holding town halls Pressure mounts on GOP leaders to back special counsel MORE (R-Ky.) has announced that the second budget resolution that Republicans plan to pass this spring will have instructions to protect tax reform from Democratic filibusters.

But its possible to include multiple instructions so that the resolution includes the Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over financial industry regulations, as well as the Finance Committee, which is in charge of taxes.

Budget Committee Chairman Mike EnziMike EnziRepublicans eye strategy for repealing Wall Street reform Lawmakers fundraise amid rising town hall pressure A guide to the committees: Senate MORE (R-Wyo.) said reconciliation instructions affecting the Wall Street reform law could be included in the next budget resolution, which will cover fiscal 2018. But he declined to tip his hand about whether that was a certainty.

"I just work the problem until Ive got a solution," he said.

Trump signed an executive order early last month giving the Treasury Department authority to change key provisions of Dodd-Frank to align with several goals laid out by his administration, such as to make regulation efficient, effective and appropriately tailored.

The president said regulations created under the 2010 law have chilled economic activity.

I have so many people, friends of mine, that have nice businesses that cant borrow money, Trump said. The banks just wont let them borrow because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.

Democrats say the Republican plan to gut the reform law with only 51 votes would likely run afoul of the Senates Byrd rule, named after the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), which limits what legislation can be passed under reconciliation.

How would they use reconciliation? Its not budgetary, said a Senate Democratic aide.

A former Democrat aide who served in the Senate during passage of the Wall Street reform law seven years ago, however, said Republicans could attempt to target spending on regulation of the financial services industry.

They could target provisions in Dodd-Frank that govern funding such as that they might have been charging or fines they were imposing on banks. That sort of thing they could go after, the Democratic source said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2011 that the Wall Street law would increase government revenues by $13.4 billion and spending by $10.2 billion over a 10-year period. It projected the law would reduce deficits by $3.2 billion.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a veteran member of the Banking Committee, is leading the review of the budget rules to determine what parts of the law can be undone with 51 votes.

We need to make a number of really substantial reforms to Dodd-Frank, Toomey told the Wall Street Journal in December. I am very much in favor of making sure we have all the tools to do this.

Aside from the challenge of getting the Senate parliamentarian who decides whats eligible for special budgetary protection to sign off on the plan, Shelby and Toomey may have trouble convincing some moderate Republicans to go along.

Schumer in November predicted in November that some Republicans would side with Democrats in blocking efforts to weaken the law. Yet Republicans could try to make up for lost votes by targeting red-state Democrats who are up for reelection in 2018.

Republicans from agricultural states say tighter regulations on banks has made it tougher for farmers to obtain financing now that commodity prices are slumping.

Link:
Republicans eye strategy for repealing Wall Street reform - The Hill