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Fifty-eight House Republicans signed a letter calling for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to recuse herself from the upcoming travel ban case due to her comments about President Trump during the election.

In the letter, the congressmen call for Ginsburg to recuse herself in the case International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump. The case centers on President Trump's travel ban, which seeks to restrict refugee settlement in the U.S. as well as prohibit travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The congressmen argued Ginsburg's previous public comments about Trump, which included calling him a "faker" and saying he has an "ego," merited her recusal from the case.

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, scheduling oral arguments for the first session in October. The court also lifted the injunction on the ban except for individuals with a bona fide relationship to the U.S.

Ginsburg subsequently apologized for her comments, though she was criticized by the editorial boards of both The New York Times and The Washington Post. Excerpts from those editorials were included in the letter sent to Ginsburg.

This story has been corrected to reflect that 58 Republican lawmakers signed the letter.

Read more here:
Republican lawmakers want Ruth Bader Ginsburg to recuse herself from Trump cases - Washington Examiner

Common Dreams

Sister Simone: Republican's Trumpcare Plan Is Opposite of 'Pro-Life' Common Dreams As Senate Republicans seek to rush through a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the most secretive manner, I want to call their bluff on their proclaimed pro-life stance...The House and Senate healthcare proposals are the antithesis of a pro ... and more »

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Sister Simone: Republican's Trumpcare Plan Is Opposite of 'Pro-Life' - Common Dreams

There are two central problems facing Senate Republican leaders this week as they try to rush through a health-care bill that's gaining opposition by the day:

1. It's gaining opposition by the day. As of Sunday evening, we count 10 senators who either have strong concerns or who can't support the legislation as is. Republican leaders can afford only two defections of their 52-strong caucus.

2. Not all of their concerns are the same. This bill the one with 10 senators who could vote against it is as close as Senate Republican leaders can get to compromise. Any changes to the bill in one direction, say to lessen the impact of Medicaid cuts, will almost certainly make it unpalatable for the opposite side of Republicans' ideological spectrum, such as conservatives who think there's too much government help in health care as is.

Senate Republicans' attempt to roll back Obamacare is a balance between traditional Republican orthodoxy and a recognition that government will probably have a role insuring people for the foreseeable future. On the first point, the bill cuts taxes for the wealthy to grow the economy to give everyone else more money to buy health insurance, if they want it.

But it also keeps some level of government subsidies for people to buy health care, because Republicans don't want to be the party cast as taking away health care people like.

That kind of compromise is necessary to craft a health-insurance bill that won't crater, say health-care experts. Gary Claxton, an analyst at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, said health-care policy is like a stool. You can't take away the unpopular parts of it, like the tax penalty for people who don't have health insurance, without destabilizing the popular parts, like people having health insurance.

It's easy to say, 'I want to go down these paths,' " Claxton said, but once you go down them, they're pretty hard to back their way out of.

But compromise isn't something Republican senators, both moderates and conservatives, feel like they can sell. Here's what compromise means for Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Ron Johnson (Wis.), who came out against the bill hours after it was introduced: Get rid of most of Obamacare instead of all of it.

Ive been telling leadership for months now Ill vote for a repeal, Paul said Sunday on ABCs This Week. And it doesnt have to be a 100 percent repeal. (The Senate's bill keeps much of Obamacare's structure intact.)

Meanwhile, moderates such as Sens. Dean Heller and Susan Collins feel like they can't go home to people in their states and say: Okay, thousands of you especially the older, sicker and poorer and people with substance abuse problems are going to lose health insurance.

I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes away insurance from tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Nevadans, Heller said in a news conference Friday.

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) announced on June 23 that he would not support the Republican Senate health-care bill. (Reuters)

Senate Republican leaders have one key leverage point to try to get three of these five likely no votes in line. They can ditch trying to compromise altogether and offer these senators an ultimatum: This is as close as you're going to get to repealing Obamacare. Take it or leave it. And if you leave it, you'll have to explain to your constituents, who have been electing you for years on repealing Obamacare, why Obamacare is still the law of the land.

To that end, a pro-Trump outside group launched a take-no-prisoners ad campaign this weekend accusing Heller of basically standing with Republicans' political enemy, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

And President Trump is tweeting this:

So far, though, neither compromise nor ultimatums seem to be working. Opposition to the bill is going up, not down, the more time Senate Republicans have to think about it. Which means it's a very real possibility that, if a vote is held this week, Senate Republicans' health-care bill fails to pass.

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Yes, there's a real chance Senate Republicans fail to pass a health-care bill - Washington Post

(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Senate Republicans are facing down an increasingly daunting challenge to secure the votes necessary to pass legislation to dramatically change President Barack Obamas signature health-care law, and several senators said they would like more time to debate and tweak the plan as GOP leaders push for a vote this week.

At least five Republicans have already come out against their partys bill which can only afford to lose two votes and over the weekend, more began expressing serious reservations and skepticism about the proposal.

The mounting dissatisfaction leaves Senate Republican leaders and the White House in a difficult position. In the coming days, moves to narrow the scope of the overhaul could appeal to moderates but anger conservatives, who believe the legislation does not go far enough to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

A key moment will arrive early this week when the Congressional Budget Office releases an analysis of the bill that estimates how many people could lose coverage under the Republican plan, as well as what impact it might have on insurance premiums and how much money it could save the government.

The stalled Republican effort to pass a sweeping rewrite of the Affordable Care Act was further threatened Sunday when Republican senators from opposite sides of the partys ideological spectrum voiced their disapproval, imperiling hopes for a Senate vote this week and President Trumps chance to fulfill a core campaign pledge.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Sunday expressed deep concerns about how the bill would cut expanded Medicaid funding for states, a key pillar of the Affordable Care Act that several centrists in the Senate are wary of rolling back, saying on ABCsThis Week that she worries about what it means to our most vulnerable citizens.

Collins also said she is concerned about the bills impact on the cost of insurance premiums and deductibles, especially for older Americans.

Im going to look at the whole bill before making a decision, she said, later adding, Its hard for me to see the bill passing this week.

Underscoring the challenge facing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), speaking on the same Sunday show, also voiced concerns with the bill but for entirely different reasons.

Paul who, along with fellow Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah,has already said he cannot support the current bill rejected the Republican plan as not fiscally austere enough but said that in the face of an impasse, he could support legislation that simply repeals Obamas health-care law.

Ive been telling leadership for months now Ill vote for a repeal, Paul said. And it doesnt have to be a 100 percent repeal. So, for example, Im for 100 percent repeal, thats what I want. But if you give me 90 percent repeal, Id probably vote for it. I might vote for 80 percent repeal.

But simply repealing Obamacare or large parts of the law without making any other changes to the nations health-care system is not a realistic political possibility at the moment.

McConnell and his team remain convinced they must call a vote soon to avoid having health-care discussions dominate the summer, when they aim to move on to retooling tax legislation. In their circle, further talks are also seen as an opening for others to bolt.

Its not going to get any easier, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told reporters on the sidelines of a three-day seminar organized by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch in Colorado Springs. And, yes, I think August is the drop deadline, about August 1.

As senators took to the airwaves Sunday, there were developments behind the scenes as GOP leaders made calls and worked to cobble together votes. But no firm decisions on vote-winning revisions were made.

There was new talk among key GOP figures about wooing moderates by altering the bills Medicaid changes, according to two people involved who would not speak publicly. By tweaking how federal funding is determined for Medicaid recipients and linking aspects to the medical component of the consumer price index, there is a belief that some moderates could be swayed, because they want assurances that funding would keep up with any rises in the cost of care, the people said.

Then would come the tightrope: If some senators can be persuaded to support revisions to the Medicaid portion of the bill, several conservatives are warning that unless their amendments are also included, they are unlikely to support the legislation. The hope is that a combination of those Medicaid changes and amendments from conservatives could pave the way to passage.

Progress in these conversations could postpone a vote for a couple weeks until after the Fourth of July holiday, the people said, but Senate leadership and the White House want to move this week if they can.

The administration itself, meanwhile, is sending mixed signals. An allied leadership PAC is launching an intensive advertising campaign against centrist Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), a no vote, to pressure him to support the bill. On This Week, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said Trumpis working the phones, hes having personal meetings, and hes engaging with leaders.

Still, the presidents own support for the legislation has at times been lukewarm. Over the weekend, he acknowledged he once called the initial Republican bill, which originated in the House, mean in a private meeting, but also urged senators on Twitter to pass it.

Trumps aides have seemed to signal that the White House is more likely to support the final Senate proposal over the original House bill going forward, and speaking this weekend onFox & Friends, Trump said,I want to see a bill with heart.

Conway added thatthe president and the White House are also open to getting Democratic votes, and asked, Why cant we get a single Democrat to come to the table, to come to the White House, to speak to the president or anyone else about trying to improve a system that has not worked for everyone?

But Democratic support seems unlikely. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), speaking onThis Week, said Democrats would only sit down with Republicans if they stop trying to repeal Obamacare. In an interview with The Washington Post, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spoke of trying to postpone a vote on the bill to mount a stronger fight against it.

One of the strategies is to just keep offering amendments, to delay this thing and delay this thing at least until after the July Fourth break, Sanders said. That would give us the opportunity to rally the American people in opposition to it. I think we should use every tactic that we can to delay this thing. In fact despite Trumps campaign promise he would not cut Medicaid the Senate bill includes deep cuts to projected spending on the program, deeper even than the House bill over the long run, and is expected to leave millions without or unable to afford health insurance.

On Sunday, there were attempts to tamp down criticism of the effect the Senate bill would have on Medicaid. Speaking on CBSs Face the Nation, Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), claimed the Republican plan will codify and make permanent the Medicaid expansion, and added, No one loses coverage. His comments echoed those by Conway, who told This Week, These are not cuts to Medicaid.

The legislation does not outright abolish the expansion of the program, under which 11million Americans in 31states have gained coverage since 2014. Instead, the bill would gradually eliminate the generous federal funding that has propped up the expansion, leaving states without enough money to pay for all their current beneficiaries.

Johnson, the senator from Wisconsin who surprised some fellow Republicans by co-signing a letter asking for more changes to the bill, said on NBCs Meet the Press that there was no hurry to vote before the end of June.

Theres no way we should be voting on this next week. No way, Johnson said. I have a hard time believing Wisconsin constituents or even myself will have enough time to properly evaluate this, for me to vote for a motion to proceed.

At the same time, Johnson said he was not a pure no on the bill.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who criticized the secretive process by which the new bill was crafted and had preferred his own compromise to extend most of the Affordable Care Act, struck a similar tone on Face the Nation. After saying he was undecided, he clarified that small changes could win his vote.

There are things in this bill that adversely affect my state that are peculiar to my state, Cassidy said. If those can be addressed, I will. If they cant be addressed, I wont. So right now, I am undecided.

Progressive activists spent the weekend warning that Republicans such as Johnson and Cassidy could vote for the bill with minor tweaks. In Columbus, Ohio, at the second of three rallies Sanders and MoveOn.org organized to pressure swing-state Republican senators, MoveOns Washington director, Ben Wikler, warned a crowd of at least 1,000 activists that the protests of Senate Republicans might amount to nothing more than theatrical posturing.

This is the week when Mitch McConnell and Republicans are going to introduce these tiny amendments and Republicans are going to say, Oh, the bill is fixed! Oh, I can vote for it now! Wikler warned. Are we going to let him get away with that?

And looming over the discussions is another challenge: the Republican-controlled House, where any revised Senate bill would head and its ultimate fate would be decided. According to a White House official, Trump advisers are keeping in close touch with the conservative House Freedom Caucus which helped tank the White Houses initial health-care push as the Senate considers the bill, making sure that whatever ends up passing could pass muster with House conservatives.

David Weigel reported from Columbus, Ohio. James Hohmann in Colorado Springs contributed to this report.

See more here:
Senate Republicans face key week as more lawmakers waver in support for health-care bill - Washington Post

The Republican game plan for summer is on course, despite the fury about Russiagate, staffing in the Executive Branch, exciting results of the four special elections for the House, and the unbreathable Washington climate of distrust, disorder, and dishonor.

While the Democrats storm about the presidents temperament and tweets, and especially as Obama administration veterans tell tales about how they scolded the Kremlin for meddling in the election, the winners from Nov. 8, 2016, are beavering away with their majority position and their candid mandate on the economy.

After so many sparkling distractions by Russiagates venerated special counsel, Robert Mueller, it is useful to restate the simple, unwavering, conservative Republican ambition.

The first step is to transform into law of the land the American Health Care Act that was passed by the Republican House on May 4.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has now delivered a Senate version of the AHCA that can attract 50 Republican votes to leave Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie.

The AHCA then goes to reconciliation to solve the differences between the House version, which favors the repeal side of the GOP-despised Affordable Care Act, and the Senate version, which leans toward the replace side of the ACA.

The second step of the GOP plan begins in the reconciliation, and it includes components of the Trump administrations tax-reform proposal.

There is an opinion under discussion at the White House that, since the AHCA is a fiscal bill, there is no restriction to attaching another fiscal bill to the reconciliation. The Republican plan includes a possibility of attaching elements of President Trumps business-tax reform.

Larry Kudlow of CNBC reports that the Republican leadership, including Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina, are in discussion about attaching to the AHCA bill what Kudlow and his colleague Steve Moore of Heritage have dubbed Three Easy Pieces of business-tax reform.

First, cut the corporate tax rate for large and small, Kudlow explained last week, including pass-throughs, from 35 to 15 [percent]. Would have an electric effect on investment. Thats large and small. Seventy percent of the benefits go to the wage earners. Middle-class tax cut.

Second, all new investment would be expensed immediately. Right off. Tremendous.

And finally, repatriate whatever. Three trillion dollars overseas. American companies bring their cash home. A one-time toll of 10 percent, and thats all.

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The Republican opinion is that these two bold fiscal steps, health care and tax reform, will satisfy the critical campaign promises of 2016 and will make 2018 a strong showing to return Republican majorities to the Hill.

What can go wrong? The challenge to the GOP plan is the legislative calendar. There are less than two dozen days for the Republicans to hash out the AHCA reconciliation before the August recess. Returning after Labor Day, there are only 64 days left in the year to do the heavy lifting of a proposed Omnibus bill for all of tax reform, business and personal, in addition to renewing the debt limit and passing a budget.

The solution to such a small window for the Republicans is to forgo the August recess in order to solve reconciliation and attach to it the Three Easy Pieces. Meadows is a strong advocate of staying in Washington and gaining the much-needed days for debate on health care.

The entire Republican Party favors the business-tax cuts large and small, Kudlow told me. The whole party. In fact a lot of Democrats favor it. Health care was a big disagreement among Republicans. There will be no big disagreement on the tax cuts.

It is a simple path to success. A small caveat is that the Democrats will object to the AHCA, because of the Congressional Budget Office scoring that could render it a budget-buster.

However, there is a solution under discussion between the Hill and the White House.

Legally, technically, Kudlow explained of the planning in GOP leadership, you can attach the tax-cut bill to the health-care bill. Theyre both fiscal bills, OK, thats the key point. You do not have to use the CBO estimates for the economy You dont have to use the 10-year scorecard window. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is proposing 20 years. That will take care of all the revenue needs. All of them.

The plan is now entirely in the hands of Republicans, who have the votes, the resolve and the skill to succeed without need of any Democratic opinions or votes.

The Democratic leadership is completely informed of the Republican game plan.

After last Tuesdays efficient Republican victories in Georgia and South Carolina, disgruntled Democratic members of Congress have spoken out against leaders such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for devoting so much energy and time to disdaining Trump instead of developing an answer to the GOP fiscal dyad of health care and taxes.

Joe Rago of The Wall Street Journal editorial board told me two weeks back that the GOP Senate was enjoying the calm of constructing its version of AHCA while the Democrats and the major media were frantic on the front pages about Trump and Putin.

The latest anxious Democratic voice is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who can see the game getting away from him as surely as he can read the melodramatic headlines about Russiagates hypothetical colluding, blackmailing, hacking, obstructing, interfering, meddling.

Democrats need a strong, bold, sharp-edged, and commonsense economic agenda, Schumer declared on TV, adding Its what we are missing, and its not going to be baby stepsits going to be bold.

The irony is that Schumer is describing exactly the GOP plan to win by Labor Day.

Just in case Schumers frustration with the Democratic obsession with Trump was not obvious, the New York senator added, When you lose an election, you dont blame other people. You blame yourself.

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The Republican Turnaround Starts This Week With Health Care and Tax Reform - Daily Beast