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WASHINGTON-- The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers plan to continue their uphill effort to exhume the House GOPs health care bill, but remain adrift and divided over how to reshape it to attract enough votes to muscle it through the chamber.

White House officials and leading legislators aimed to resume talks Wednesday. Late Tuesday, they failed in a two-hour Capitol basement office meeting to shake hands on a White House proposal to let states seek federal waivers to drop coverage mandates that President Barack Obamas health care law slapped on the insurance industry.

Vice President Mike Pence, a former member of Congress, attended the meeting between the conservative Freedom Caucus and Republican Study Committee and the more moderate Tuesday Group. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney also attended.

All of us want an agreement, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters after two dozen lawmakers from both ends of the GOP spectrum huddled with Pence and the other officials. Meadows added, Theres a whole lot of things that we have to work out.

Meadows leads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose roughly three dozen members have largely opposed the GOP legislation for not going far enough to abrogate Obamas Affordable Care Act, and their opposition helped to thwart the measure in the House in late March.

The groups plans to meet again on Wednesday.

The White House offers got an uneven reception earlier Tuesday from GOP moderates and conservatives, leaving prospects shaky that the party could salvage one of its leading legislative priorities. There was no evidence that the proposals won over any of the GOP opponents who humiliated President Donald Trump and House leaders on March 24, forcing them to cancel a planned vote on a Republican health care bill that was destined to lose.

We want to make sure that when we go, we have the votes to pass this bill, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. He said talks were in the conceptual stage.

Later Tuesday, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., his partys chief vote counter, said discussions were not where there is consensus on health care and indicated a vote this week was unlikely. Congress leaves town in days for a two-week recess, when lawmakers could face antagonistic grilling from voters at town hall meetings and the entire GOP drive might lose momentum.

Under the White House proposal, states could apply for a federal waiver from a provision in Obamas law that obliges insurers to cover essential health benefits, including mental health, maternity and substance abuse services. The current version of the GOP legislation would erase that coverage requirement but let states reimpose it themselves, language that is opposed by many of the partys moderates.

In addition, the White House would let states seek an exemption to the laws provision banning insurers from charging higher premiums for seriously ill people. Conservatives have argued that such restrictions inflate consumer costs.

Conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said he remained a no votes, saying states should be allowed to opt out of Obamas insurance requirements without seeking federal permission on bended knee.

Moderate Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., also remained an opponent, citing the GOP bills cuts in care offered low-income people under Medicaid and the higher out-of-pocket costs it would impose on many poorer and older consumers.

Some members of the Freedom Caucus were showing signs of accepting less than many originally wanted. Meadows said talks were boiling down to curbing several of Obamas coverage requirements - a sharp contrast to the full repeal of the statute that many initially demanded.

It perhaps is as much of a repeal as we can get done, Meadows told reporters.

A poll by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation flashed a warning for the White House, showing that 3 in 4 Americans want the Trump administration to make Obamas law work.

About 2 in 3 said they were glad the House GOP bill didnt pass last month. But people split evenly between wanting to keep or repeal Obamas statute.

The underlying House Republican bill would repeal much of Obamas 2010 law. It would erase its tax fines for consumers who dont buy policies, federal aid to help many afford coverage and Medicaid expansion for additional poor people.

Instead, opponents of the current measure say they want tax subsidies for health care to less generous than under Obamas program for many lower wage-earners and people in their 50s and 60s. They also would cut the Medicaid program and tax increases on higher earners would be eliminated. Consumers who let coverage lapse would face 30 percent premium hikes.

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House Republicans are still split on health care after meeting with Mike Pence - CBS News

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks during an event | Win McNamee/Getty Images

I know the president and I and our entire administration condemn this chemical attack in Syria in the strongest possible terms, US vice president said.

By Cristiano Lima

4/6/17, 6:00 AM CET

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday all options are on the table when it comes to hisgovernments response to Syria in the aftermath of Tuesdays devastating chemical weapons attacks.

All evidence points to the Assad regime in Syria as the perpetrators behind the attacks, Pence said during an interview with Fox News. He reiterated the administrations rebuke of their actions.

I know the president and I and our entire administration condemn this chemical attack in Syria in the strongest possible terms, he said. It cannot be tolerated.

Pence added that while he was hopeful the United Nations would take action in Syria, the administration is keeping its options open.

Pence also cast developments in Syria as the consequence of inaction on the part of the Obama administration. His comments echoed President Donald Trump, who earlier Wednesday blasted his predecessor for issuing a blank threat when he cautioned Syria that utilizing chemical weapons would be crossing a red line.

Pence took a similar tone.

It is a reflection of the failure of the last administration to both confront the mindless violence of the regime and also the whole of Russia and Syria to account for the promises that theyve made to destroy chemical weapons, Pence said.

Earlier in the day, Trump also offered a sharp condemnation of the actions in Syria, saying during a joint press conference at the White House with King Abdullah of Jordan that what had unfolded had changed his thinking.

It crossed a lot of lines for me, Trump said. When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line. Many, many lines.

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Mike Pence on Syria, Assad: 'All options are on the table' - POLITICO.eu

Footwear News

Vice President Pence's Daughter Plugs Ivanka Trump's Glitter Pumps And Now They're Only $40 Footwear News Among them, Charlotte Pence, daughter of Vice President Mike Pence, who took to Instagram on Monday and plugged Ivanka's high heels. The 23-year-old filmmaker shared an Instagram Story segment photo of the footwear that featured an emoji of a high ...

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Vice President Pence's Daughter Plugs Ivanka Trump's Glitter Pumps And Now They're Only $40 - Footwear News

In a Wednesday night interview with Fox News, Vice President Mike Pencetold the network "the American people have a right to know if there was surveillance of any private citizen in this country."What he did not mention, of course, is thatthe American people currently do not have that right thanks, in part, to one Mike Pence.

The vice president was responding to a question about whether or not former national security adviser Susan Rice should testify before the House Intelligence Committee about her requests to the FBI to unmask the names of Trump officials in intelligence reports about Russia. It's something Rice admits to doing, but insists she did not do for political reasons. Some conservative outlets have also accused Rice of leaking details of a conversation between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a charge she denies.

Still Pence told Fox he's concerned about Rice and that such surveillance powers should be "troubling to anyone who cherishes civil liberties in this country."

His concern about civil liberties and the surveillance of private citizens is not unwarranted. For decades privacy rights advocates have worried about the federal government's increasing power to surveil it's own citizens powers that were dramatically expanded over the past decade, thanks in part, to Mike Pence.

As a member of Congress in during the Bush administration, Pence voted for a number measures to expand the surveillance state, including several measures that loosened restrictions on monitoring American citizens.

Pence voted for to authorize and reauthorize the USA Patriot Act which allowed intelligence agencies to gather intelligence from U.S. citizens. In addition he also voted in favor of the Protect America Act and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which gave intelligence agencies the ability to collect "foreign intelligence" from American citizens communicating with foreign agents.

"The Protect America Act and theFISA Amendments Act of 2008, both dramatically lowered protections that would generally apply and they opened the door to a lot of Americans communicating with foreigners," Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union focusing on surveillance, privacy and national security, said in a phone interview.

As for that "Americans have the right to know" assertion, well, those laws also limit the extent to which private citizens have a right to know they are being or have been surveilled. "If the government is collecting my information under [theFISA Amendments Act] I likely have no way of finding that out," Guliani said. "The idea that you have a right to know that doesn't exist under our current national security laws."

According to Guliani, the powers granted to the intelligence community under the FISA Amendments Act, could have been used to justify monitoring of former national security adviser Michael Flynn during his conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

During his time in Congress, Pence also voted against some measures that would hold the newly empowered surveillance state accountable, including one measure that would have required the Justice Department's Inspector General to provide reports to the House Intelligence Committee about the number of American citizens being surveilled.

Perhaps, now that Pence has voiced some newfound concerns about the U.S.' expansive surveillance powers, he will reconsider some of his previous legislative decisions. Until then Pence should consider conducting his private conversations behind closed doors.

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Mike Pence is suddenly worried about that expansive surveillance state he helped create - Mic

Last week, the Washington Post profiled second lady Karen Pence, a devout Christian and devoted wife who is, as the story put it, her husbands prayer warrior, gut check and shield.

Ashley Parker, the reporter, noted that Vice President Mike Pence once had told The Hill, a political newspaper and website, that he never dines with women alone, nor does he attend functions without his wife if alcohol is being served.

This tidbit popped off the page like a spark from a burning log. Twitter, which is always highly combustible, exploded.

Was this a sign of marital devotion and respect? Or a signal that the Pences dont trust Mike Pence to be alone with a woman? Or perhaps dont trust a woman to be alone with Mike Pence?

I figured this fusty-seeming practice must spring from the couples well-known religiosity.

They were married in the Catholic church, later became evangelical Christians and frequently talk about their faith. Mike Pence often describes himself as a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.

Some people said the vice president simply was following the Billy Graham rule created by the famous evangelist in 1948, when he was on the road proselytizing. Graham and his male colleagues vowed to avoid situations that would have even the appearance of compromise or suspicion.

Removing temptation (in the form of women) from men is a staple of many patriarchal faiths. A straight, married man will not be tempted to stray if he does not spend time alone with an unrelated woman. Of course, it wont stop a man from lusting in his heart. But thats not the organ were worried about, I guess.

There is actually a more important principle at stake here, and one that transcends the Pences or anyone elses bond.

In the eyes of the law and the government, women are equal to men. They are deserving of the same workplace opportunities that historically have presented themselves to men.

If professional women and men cannot be alone together, women are the ones who will pay a price. They will not have the kind of mentoring that promotes workplace advancement. They will not develop the same kinds of relationships with bosses that their male colleagues do.

They will lose out.

I believe this is gender discrimination, said Kim Elsesser, 52, a UCLA lecturer on gender and psychology who founded a proprietary quantitative hedge fund at Morgan Stanley after graduating from Vassar and MIT. If you dont go out to dinner with a woman, its hard to have a woman be your campaign manager or your chief of staff or whoever you need to regularly meet with.

Now, maybe Im just a garden variety Jezebel. But I, a single woman, often spend time alone with married men in the course of my work.

I buy them coffee. I take them to lunch. Sometimes, temptress that I am, I even drink wine with them at dinner.

Often, when I am downtown, I will beckon a married male colleague into my office. (I have so many to choose from!)

We say nothing until I close the door. We sit down. We look straight into each others eyes.

And then we talk about work.

::

In 2015, National Journal conducted an anonymous survey asking women about their experiences as congressional staffers. Were there any advantages to being a woman? Had they ever experienced sexism?

Advantages were mostly superficial, according to the responses. One woman said she was treated better by security guards than her male colleagues. Another said that Republican congressmen seemed to like to have women as spokespeople.

But the disadvantages were stark, particularly when it came to issues like being alone with their male bosses:

In her 2016 book Sex and the Office, Elsesser coined the phrase sex partition to describe this dynamic.

Its an artificial barrier between men and women at work, she said. Male subordinates who can spend time alone with their bosses are going to develop deeper relationships.

Obviously, said Elsesser, when it comes time for promotions, who is going to get them?

::

While weve been engaged in a discussion about whether its appropriate for men to avoid being alone with their female colleagues and subordinates, weve also been awash in new tales of bad male behavior over at the Fox News Network.

Last weekend, the New York Times published a front-page investigation into harassment allegations against Fox star Bill OReilly. It reported that five women had reached settlements totaling $13 million with the network or OReilly personally. (At least two of the networks settlements, the Times reported, were reached after Fox removed longtime Chairman Roger Ailes in the wake of sexual harassment claims by two dozen women.)

One thing that struck me about these stories were the comments Ive read, Elsesser said. They say: Women are upset because they are getting sexually harassed, and now they are upset that this guy [Pence] is avoiding interactions with them. You just cant make them happy.

So are men damned if they do and damned if they dont?

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: Hell, no. Women want to be treated as workplace equals, and they dont want to be sexually harassed. If you are a man and this strikes you as unfair, ambiguous or damning, perhaps you dont belong in the workplace at all.

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Mike Pence won't dine alone with a woman who's not his wife. Is that sexist? - Los Angeles Times