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Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said Monday that he could not get behind the Republicans current plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Walker, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, which has 170 members, told Bloomberg that he would recommend that his fellow members reject the plan, too.

The bill contains what increasingly appears to be a new health-insurance entitlement with a Republican stamp on it, he said.

With the GOP-controlled Congress starting its third month of work on one of its marquee priorities, unresolved difficulties include how their substitute would handle Medicaid, whether millions of voters might lose coverage, if their proposed tax credits would be adequate and how to pay for the costly exercise.

VIDEO TRUMP TALKS CRAPPING OBAMACARE WITH GOVERNORS, LAWMAKERS

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office made their job even dicier recently, giving House Republicans an informal analysis that their emerging plan would be more expensive than they hoped and cover fewer people than former President Obamas statute. The analysis was described by lobbyists speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with congressional aides.

For many in the party, those problems while major are outweighed by pledges theyve made for years to repeal Obamas 2010 law and substitute it with a GOP alternative. Conservatives favoring full repeal are pitted against more cautious moderates and governors looking to curb Medicaids costs also worry about constituents losing coverage. But Republicans also see inaction as the worst alternative and leaders may plunge ahead as soon as next week with initial House committee votes on legislation.

VIDEO: WILL 'NOW OR NEVER' STRATEGY UNITE REPUBLICANS?

I believe they have left themselves no choice. Politically they must do something, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican economist and health analyst, said Monday.

President Trump spoke about health cares complexities on a day he held White House talks with dozens of governors worried Republicans could shift a huge financial burden to the states by curbing Medicaid, the federal-state program that helps low-income people and those in nursing homes pay bills.

Trump also met with insurance company executives concerned that uncertainty about possible GOP changes could roil the marketplace. Insurers said they remain committed to working with the administration and the GOP-led Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Monday that Republicans have yet to win any Democratic support for their effort and said the odds are very high Obamas law wont be repealed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Key Republican would vote against GOP's ObamaCare replacement - Fox News

Congressional Republicans came to town with an ambitious agenda and high expectations. But as President Donald Trump prepares to deliver his first joint address to the House and Senate, that agenda has not moved as quickly as members or Trump anticipated.

The realities of governing, coupled with challenges brought on by the Trump administration, have thwarted an aggressive to-do list that focused on reversing many of the previous administration's actions.

Trump will take the podium with few legislative accomplishments. However, he is expected to tout his first month in office and promote his goals for the next year in what is expected to be a broad speech full of ideas but short on specifics.

Here's a look at where the Republican agenda stands in Congress:

With a Republican in the White House, the GOP-controlled congress was ambitious in a quick timeline to pass a repeal bill after six years of voting to do just that. But the process was dramatically slowed as some members expressed nervousness about repealing a bill without a replacement and disagreements emerged among Republicans about what a replacement should look like and how to pay for it. Now nearly two months into the session, Congress has yet to present a bill. A draft bill was leaked last week but Republican leaders caution that a new version could emerge. House Speaker Paul Ryan's latest timeline is the presentation of a bill before the full House the first full week of March - a date that is quickly approaching.

Republicans' next big agenda item is tax reform, but tensions have emerged early in the process between each body of Congress and the White House. Central to Speaker Ryan's corporate tax reform plan is something called the border adjustment tax, which taxes any product of good or part imported into the United States. Trump has signaled hesitation on the idea, calling it "too complicated," and Senate Republicans have no interest in what many say would make products more expensive for American consumers. Some have even said it would cause a trade war. The original goal for tax reform was late spring but a more likely timeline appears to be July, before the month-long August recess.

Reversing some of President Barack Obama's regulations is perhaps the biggest accomplishment for Republicans so far. Trump has already signed three measures, including one that rolls back environmental protections. The House passed additional measures that now have to be taken up by the Senate, including one that reverses the ban on allowing mentally ill people from purchasing firearms.

What President Trump wants to achieve

One of Trump's biggest priorities is infrastructure. Republicans in Congress, however, are less eager to spend a proposed trillion dollars on repairing the nation's roads and bridges. Congress hasn't addressed it and with little buy in from Congress, it could quickly be put on the back burner.

Congress is expecting an emergency funding bill this spring to begin funding Trump's wall along the Mexican border, which is expected to cost billions of dollars. Construction won't begin until the funding bill is received.

Because of Democrats' ability to slow-walk the confirmation process, Trump's cabinet is not fully in place. A handful of positions remain open and the nominee for Secretary of Labor, Andy Puzder, withdrew his name after ongoing scrutiny and concerns raised by Republicans. Because the confirmation process has been so time-consuming, the Senate has done little legislating other than putting Trump's cabinet in place.

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is on his way to hold courtesy meetings with all the members of the Senate but he has yet to have his confirmation hearings, which are scheduled for March 20.

Allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election and the resignation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn after questions about the content of phone calls with a Russian official has forced Congress to take up investigating the developments. It is an investigation that has expanded and is being looked at by at least five committees. While committees can focus on multiple issues at a time, it is using valuable resources and time and a constant story that Republicans are asked about when they'd rather be focusing their news cycle on their legislative agenda.

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Trump Speech: Republican Agenda in Congress Makes Slower Progress Than Promised - NBCNews.com

Over the weekend, Darrell Issa did something that no other Republican congressman has done.

Sitting for an interview with HBOs Bill Maher, the longtime Vista Republican said he believed that a prosecutor needed to investigate Russias involvement in the U.S. election and that Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, who was involved in President Trumps campaign, should not be that prosecutor.

You cannot have somebody a friend of mine, Jeff Sessions who was on the campaign and who is an appointee, Issa said. Youre going to need to use the special prosecutors statute and office.

He backed that up Monday with a statement calling for a fully independent review of Russian attempts to interfere in the election, saying there is too much speculation and assumption.

An investigation is not the same as an assertion of specific wrongdoing, its following the facts where they lead so that American people can know what may or may not have taken place, Issa said.

It makes him one of the most prominent Republicans in the country to call for an independent investigation into what Russia was trying to do during the election and who knew about it, but the only one to call for a special prosecutor to do it. He added to his statement on Monday in an interview with CBS News, emphasizingthat no person is currently under suspicion, which is what would usually prompt calls for a special prosecutor.

Issas positionstill puts himat odds with Republican leaders in the House, Senate and White House, who have said there is no need for an investigation beyond the reviews currently taking place in the House and Senate and have not supported the idea of a special prosecutor.

There are a few reasons hes taking a stand now.

Issa finds himself in a classic electoral problem:The long-serving Republican congressman faced his toughest reelection fight in years in 2016, beating back a challenge by Democrat Doug Applegate by fewer than 2,000 votes. The tight margin, and the fact that the district went narrowly for Clinton, seems to have shaken Issa.

Issa is also known for his aggressive investigationsinto President Obama and agency officials as chair of the House Oversight Committee, and could truly be trying to be consistent under a Republican president.

Issa took his oversight role very seriously and very aggressively during the Obama years. Its reasonable that hed adhere to the same approach with a new president, said Dan Schnur, a political communications professor at USC.

Issas district stretches from La Jolla to Dana Point and has ticked slowly left in recent years. Voters there narrowly picked Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump with 50.5% of the vote.

His is one of seven California Republican districts Democrats have said they planto target. Applegate has already announced plans to challenge Issa again in 2018, painting a target on the congressmans back.

While Issas special prosecutor statement was the most dramatic, its not the only change hes made since the election. Hes also shown a softer, more centrist side. On Saturday, he urged his fellowRepublicans at Californias GOP conventionto do a better job listening to all Americans, even those who didnt vote for them.

Earlier in the week, when many Republican members were avoiding the swarms of anti-Trump protesters outside their offices, Issa joined protesters and supportersdemonstrating outside his office,answeringquestions on issues such as the future of the Affordable Care Actand listening to concerns for an hour and a half.

Hes smart enough to understand that he will benefit in his district by establishing some daylight between himself and the Trump administration, Schnur said.

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow@sarahdwire on Twitter

Excerpt from:
Why Rep. Darrell Issa is breaking with his fellow Republicans on the Russian hacking probe - Chicago Tribune

Feb. 27, 2017, 4:50 p.m.

SenatePresidentPro Tem Kevin de Lenon Monday pledged a nonpartisan review intoactions taken last week byDemocratic leaders to removeSen. Janet Nguyen from the housefloor , saying he was troubled and unsettled by the tense events that unfolded.

"Members, last Thursday was not one of the finest moments of the Senate," he said. "As the leader of this body, I take full responsibility for what transpired and in making sure that it never happens again."

Republican lawmakers commended the statement. But they blastedwhat they described as the majority party's infringement of free speech. They demandeda formalapology for Nguyenandcalledfor the resignation of DeLen's chief of staff, who they said made inappropriate comments about the incident to the media.

Nguyen (R-Garden Grove), a Vietnamese refugee,on Thursday was escorted from the Senate floor by sergeants-at-armsafter shetriedto offer what she said was a different historical perspectiveon the lateTom Hayden and his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Reading a letter toSecretaryof theSenate Daniel Alvarez, Sen. Jean Fuller(R-Bakersfield), leader of the Senate Republican Caucus, called for a complete and transparent investigation.

Fuller saidNguyenspoke from the heart when she said Hayden's being honoredtriggered outrage among the constituents in her district's Vietnamese community, where memories of the war were still raw.

"Brutality of the Vietnamese Communist party continues to haunt the collective memory of the Vietnamese American community," Fuller said. The letter was submitted to the Senate journal through a unanimous vote.

Before the start of session, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle shook hands withNguyenas she entered the chamberfor her first time back since her ouster last week. Some Republican lawmakers embraced her and whispered words of approval and encouragement.

"Thursday's events were shocking and distressing," she later said. "But what happened today on the floor reaffirmed my faith in America's deep belief in the democratic process."

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Republican lawmakers blast removal of state senator from the floor, call for full investigation - Los Angeles Times

A call by a leading Republican lawmaker for a special counsel to investigate possible Russian interference in 2016 elections highlights the growing pressure facing lawmakers on the issue as they return this week from a recess.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), an early supporter of President Donald Trumps whose district narrowly voted for Hillary Clinton last year, said over the weekend that the Justice Department should consider appointing a special counsel to probe any links between the Kremlin and Trump associates.

A new WSJ/NBC News poll released Friday shows a growing concern among Americans, and core-Trump supporters, over President Donald Trump's connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Press Pool/Kremlin

I would expect that the attorney general will find a career U.S. attorney, appoint him or her to head that up, and to do that job in an independent way, Issa told reporters on Saturday. That is historically the right way to deal with something like this.

Issas position, which he also aired Friday in an appearance on HBO, was a notable crack in Republican ranks. GOP leaders have said for months that the Senate Intelligence Committee and its House counterpart are equipped to probe allegations of Russian tampering, brushing aside calls for an independent commission, a select congressional committee or a special counsel.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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Leading Republican calls for special counsel for Trump-Russia probe - MarketWatch