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WASHINGTON Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., vented his frustration Wednesday as a handful of his Republican colleagues lined up against the same kind of health care repeal language that they supported less than two years ago.

How can you possibly explain that to people with any intellectual integrity? Sasse said in an interview with The World-Herald.

As Senate Republicans struggle this week to unify behind a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, Sasse highlighted Wednesdays vote to repeal significant parts of former President Barack Obamas health care law with a two-year delay. GOP senators had approved such a plan in 2015 only to see it vetoed by Obama.

Since President Donald Trump would presumably sign the repeal legislation, Sasse said, voting against it now when it counts amounts to a breathtaking flip.

All four GOP senators from Nebraska and Iowa voted for the repeal proposal Wednesday, but it attracted only 45 votes, with 55 against, including seven Republicans. Six of those Republicans had voted for the similar plan under Obama.

There was a lot of show voting going on here 15 months ago, Sasse said.

Nebraska Democrats blasted senators support for the proposal, saying it would leave people without coverage.

Sasse made repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act a centerpiece of his 2014 campaign, although he has avoided the public spotlight for much of the recent Senate health care discussion. In the interview, Sasse said that he has been working for months behind closed doors to build support for repeal-and-replace, with a particular emphasis on promoting insurance portability.

The main GOP proposal to simultaneously repeal and replace was rejected earlier this week, despite the support of all four Midlands senators.

While Sasse said that bill had its shortcomings, he also praised language from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would have opened the door for insurers to again sell skimpier catastrophic plans.

Sasse said theres no interest group that makes money off those plans or lobbies for them, but many Americans would like to have that option.

Nobodys ever going to come and do a demonstration sit-in, screaming in your office: I want a catastrophic plan, Sasse said. But thats actually what you hear lots and lots in Nebraska.

It remains to be seen how the rest of this weeks health care debate will play out. Sasse has repeatedly pushed the idea of first repealing the Affordable Care Act and then keeping Congress in town as long as necessary to agree on a replacement.

He said that approach, which Trump has supported at times, would bring Democrats to the table.

Sasse often invokes the need for portability in a replacement health care law, drawing parallels to the shift from defined-benefit pensions to 401(k) retirement plans that workers can carry over from job to job and state to state. Allowing people to keep their health care benefits as they move or change jobs would address some of the problems with the current health care system.

We used to have the same problem with pensions and we fixed it, Sasse said.

Republicans dont have a well-developed theory of what is necessary to address problems in the health care system today, Sasse said, and they should keep working on it until they do.

I know what I believe should happen in health care, Sasse said. But so far, he said, there isnt a majority in Congress in support of his approach.

It cant compel a majority vote, he said. So, we should be debating harder and longer about replace.

joe.morton@owh.com, twitter.com/MortonOWH

Continued here:
Sen. Ben Sasse rebukes Republican colleagues who voted against health care repeal legislation - Omaha World-Herald

Sen. Bernie Sanders will not support a "sham" amendment to the Republican healthcare bill dismantling Obamacare that would implement a single-payer healthcare insurance program.

On Wednesday, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who does not support single-payer, proposed the amendment as a way of cornering vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election to go on record for the progressive platform.

Not all Democrats have voiced support for it, but progressives like Sanders, I-Vt., have long called for a single-payer, government-run system. However, Sanders' office said he will not play Daines' game.

"The Democratic caucus will not participate in the Republicans' sham process. No amendment will get a vote until we see the final legislation and know what bill we are amending," Josh Miller-Lewis, a spokesperson for Sanders, said in a text sent to Vox.

Miller-Lewis added, "Once Republicans show us their final bill, Sen. Sanders looks forward to getting a vote on his amendment that makes clear the Senate believes that the United States must join every major country and guarantee health care as a right, not a privilege."

Daines' single-payer amendment is a rip of legislation offered in the House by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., which has the support of more than 100 Democratic co-sponsors, calling for a "Medicare for All" program.

Link:
Bernie Sanders refuses to support 'sham' Republican single-payer amendment - Washington Examiner

Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 21, 2017. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP file

"Jeff Sessions is among the most honorable men in government today...I have full confidence in Jeffs ability to perform the duties," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the most senior Republican in the Senate.

Hatch was the second senator to endorse Trump last year, he noted to reporters "some people thought I was crazy to do it."

Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas conservative, called Sessions "a good man and a fine Attorney General."

Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., praised Sessions specifically for his handling of the Russia probe.

"I think that his independence has been proven by his willingness to recuse himself," Tillis told reporters. "I think hes doing a good job there and I look forward to him continuing to serve."

Asked if the Senate would confirm a replacement for Sessions should it need to, Tillies replied, "That raises the question about whether or not anybody would wanna do it."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has butted up against Sessions hardline on immigration, defended him on Twitter.

Trump snubbed Sessions on Monday when he spoke to the

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told CNBC that Sessions "embodies all of the things that are great about boy scouting and eagle scouts."

"I worked with Jeff Sessions for nine and a half years in the Senate," Barrasso added. "Jeff Sessions has my confidence."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich introduces Donald Trump at a rally last month in Ft. Myers, Fla. Evan Vucci / AP

And even Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and outspoken Trump defender, took Sessions' side. "I think Sessions should stay," Gingrich told NPR Wednesday. "I dont think this is one of the Presidents better moments."

Meanwhile in Alabama, three Republicans are the leading candidates

One of them, Rep. Mo Brooks, on Wednesday announced that he would drop out of the race if the other GOP contenders would do so as well so that Sessions could become the Republican nominee to get his old Senate seat back if he is fired by Trump.

"This public waterboarding of one of the greatest people Alabama has ever produced is inappropriate and insulting to the people of Alabama who know Jeff Sessions so well and elected him so often by overwhelming margins," Brooks said.

More:
Republican Senators Steamed Over Trump Attacks Back Sessions - NBCNews.com

President Trump made no effort to dispel the impression that he wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions out, telling reporters on Tuesday, We will see what happens. Time will tell.

At a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, President Trump took questions about his attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

Mr. Sessions remained silent, but Mr. Trumps continued criticism of an early ally has opened a rift with conservatives who see the attorney general as their champion. It has also raised questions about the future of the investigation into Russias election interference and highlighted the complicated relationship between the president and congressional Republicans.

On Tuesday, the president addressed an adoring crowd in Ohio, while the Boy Scouts tried to distance the group from his politics-laced speech the day before.

Estimate of North Korean threat is revised.

A missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. is likely to be developed within a year, American intelligence agencies say, a significantly shorter time frame than previously given.

Scandal sinks dean at U.S.C.

The University of Southern California is under intense scrutiny over the departure of the leader of its medical school.

Dr. Carmen Puliafito was a prodigious fund-raiser, but a report last week detailed how he associated with criminals and used drugs on campus.

U.S. soldier tells of baffling attack.

A survivor of a shootout in Jordan last year that killed three Americans described a scene of confusion and terror.

A gun battle erupted between American Special Forces soldiers and a Jordanian Air Force sergeant last year at an air base outside Al Jafr, Jordan.

The Daily, your audio news report.

In todays show, we discuss the Senates health care debate.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

The White House is exploring ways to exploit Afghanistans vast mineral wealth, which Afghan officials have said could be profitably extracted by Western companies.

Weak productivity is conventionally understood to be the root cause of slow growth and low wages. What if its the other way around?

Frustrated by limits on transactions, a faction of programmers is starting a new virtual currency, Bitcoin Cash.

Employees at a tech company in Wisconsin are volunteering for microchip implants, making it easier to open doors and pay for food. The practice raises many questions, both privacy- and health-related.

U.S. stocks were up on Tuesday. Heres a snapshot of global markets.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

Can you test the health of your gut?

Recipe of the day: Weeknights call for comfort food like chicken curry.

Recalling riots in Detroit, 50 years on.

In todays 360 video, travel through archival photographs to sites of one of the most destructive civil disturbances in U.S. history.

In this 360 video, travel through archival photographs to sites of one of the most destructive civil disturbances in American history and hear from a woman who witnessed it.

111 N.F.L. brains. 110 with disease.

An overwhelming number of football players in a new study were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative disease linked to repeated blows to the head.

Not your typical Mexican fare.

At Atla, a casual cafe in New York from a team with original things to say about Mexican cuisine, chefs make food for every moment of the day, our restaurant critic writes.

In memoriam.

Margaret Bergmann Lambert, a world-class high jumper, was best known for her nonparticipation in the 1936 Olympics, when she was kept off the German team because she was Jewish. She was 103.

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara cautioned against gluttony and early retirement, and championed climbing stairs and having fun. Practicing what he preached, he helped make Japan the world leader in longevity. He was 105.

Best of late-night TV.

Some of the hosts addressed President Trumps speech to the Boy Scouts. Be prepared.

Quotation of the day.

If an early supporter like this is thrown under the bus, then who is safe? You can imagine what the other cabinet secretaries are thinking.

Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a supporter of stricter immigration policies like those championed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

War in a periscope declared the front page of The Times on this day in 1942.

The headline accompanied an image from the U.S. Navy, the first combat action photograph taken through the periscope of an American undersea craft.

That got us wondering about other photographic firsts at The Times, so we dived into our archives.

The Times published its first photographs on Sept. 6, 1896, in the first edition of its Sunday Magazine. (The pictures were of two candidates in the 1860 presidential election. Pictures of white, male politicians? Some things never change.)

It took 13 more years for a photograph to appear on the front page. The Times sponsored a daredevil flight from Albany to New York City and ran a picture of the plane at takeoff.

Experiments with color printing began as far back as the early 20th century, but the front page was strictly black and white until Oct. 16, 1997, when a photograph of the World Series-bound Cleveland Indians appeared.

Interested in seeing more from The Timess archive? Check out our blog, The Lively Morgue, and follow @nytarchives on Instagram.

Ryan Murphy contributed reporting.

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Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

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Because of an editing error, an earlier version of a caption with this briefing misidentified both the source and the target of a torpedo that sank a Japanese ship. The torpedo was from a U.S. submarine, not a destroyer, and sank a Japanese destroyer, not a battleship.

Original post:
Republican Party, Jeff Sessions, North Korea: Your Wednesday ... - New York Times

Hours later, Mr. Trump joined the chairman of Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, for a big announcement: The company will open its first American factory in Wisconsin.

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3. The Treasury Department announced new financial sanctions on current and former Venezuelan officials. The Trump administration is threatening further action if President Nicols Maduro proceeds with a constituent assembly on Sunday that critics consider a danger to democracy. Above, a scene from a protest in Caracas.

And Russian legislators called for painful measures against the U.S. in response to plans for new American sanctions. The House voted on Tuesday to bolster sanctions to punish Moscow for aggression toward its neighbors and election interference. The bill goes to the Senate next.

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4. You can think of California as a giant laboratory.

That was a Berkeley professor as Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law expanding the states cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The state now plans to rethink every corner of its economy, from urban planning to dairy farms.

And theres a big scandal rocking the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Times published an expos about the former dean of the medical school, who was seen on camera taking hard drugs and partying with much younger companions.

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5. Thousands of people were evacuated from homes and vacation sites in southeastern France as strong winds fueled wildfires that had been raging across the region for days.

At least two homes and 2,000 acres of forest were gutted, but there have been no reports of fatalities so far. The fire started at a campsite near Bormes-les-Mimosas, a town on the Mediterranean coast, where the population surges with vacationers during the summer.

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6. At least four people, including two teenagers, have died since Monday trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas, in another deadly sign of the extremes to which migrants will go to reach the U.S.

The river is normally just a trickle there, but heavy rains have transformed it into a dangerous torrent. Seven people were also rescued near El Paso, above.

The deaths came days after the authorities discovered the bodies of eight migrants packed in a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio.

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7. New York Citys subway system is a disaster at the moment plagued by delays, breakdowns and even derailments.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in June. Now hes going to Washington to meet with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and the states congressional delegation about the crisis.

If youre wondering why the governor is in charge of the subway and not the mayor youre not alone. Heres the back story.

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8. A first-of-its-kind traveling exhibition of objects from Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp, will begin a tour of 14 cities across Europe and North America later this year.

The organizers said its more urgent than ever as the last survivors age, and anti-Semitism persists in many quarters.

The exhibit will include letters and testimonials, a tin that contained Zyklon B gas pellets and other grim reminders from the complexs gas chambers. Above, a wooden box made in Auschwitz by a Polish prisoner.

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9. Is your Roomba plotting to spy on you?

The company that makes the robotic vacuum, iRobot, is considering selling the mapping data the devices collect to a company like Google or Amazon.

The data could be a windfall for marketers, and the implications are easy to imagine as are the legal questions and privacy concerns that could arise.

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10. Finally, the late-night hosts had their hands full trying to make sense of the health care debate in the Senate. (We sympathize.)

But they managed. Ahead of the health care vote senators were saying that they had no clue what theyd be voting on, Jimmy Fallon quipped. Then Americans said, Hey, just like us during the election.

Tonight, Stephen Colbert talks to Michael Moore about his forthcoming one-man show on Broadway on The Late Show.

Have a great night.

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Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

And dont miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays.

Want to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.

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Republican Party, Russia, Venezuela: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing - New York Times