Mediaboss Marketing

Senate Republicans are moving into high gear on their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making it likely that within the next few weeks theyll either pass something and keep the process hurtling forward, or abandon it altogether.

Judging from what theyre saying, it looks like the latter is the most likely scenario: They fail to pass their version of repeal, then say, Well, we tried, shake that albatross off their shoulders, and move on to the rest of their agenda. It would leave many in the party infuriated, but it might be the best of the bad options available to them.

The latest developments suggest Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) may be hoping to rip the Band-Aid off as quickly as possible and get this whole thing behind them. Heres a report from Politico:

After spending a month deliberating over a response to the Houses passage of a bill to repeal the law, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is accelerating the partys stagnant work as a jam-packed fall agenda confronts congressional leaders and President Donald Trump. Republican leaders want resolution to the tumultuous Obamacare repeal debate by the Fourth of July recess, Republican sources said, to ensure that the whole year isnt consumed by health care and that the GOP leaves room to consider tax reform.

Its a gut-check situation for Republicans, who are about to be confronted with tough choices that may result in millions fewer people with insurance coverage as a condition for cutting taxes and lowering some peoples premiums.

While its possible that McConnell is pushing this accelerated schedule because he thinks itll produce a bill that passes before anyone has a chance to realize whats happening, that seems like a long shot, particularly given how many Republicans are expressing doubts about whether they can get the 50 votes they need to pass it (the current GOP margin in the Senate is 52to 48):

Thats a whole lot of skepticism. One big problem theyre facing is that there are multiple factions and working groups among Senate Republicans, all potentially coming up with their own very different versions of the bill. Thats a result of McConnells decision not to run the bill through the ordinary committee process, since he didnt want there to be public hearings at which Democrats would have a chance to speak and question witnesses. In that vacuum, everyone wants to exercise their own influence. So apart from the 13-member group that McConnell appointed, theres also a group led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and a group led by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

But the intractable problems are likely to be substantive. Can senators from states that have benefited hugely from the ACAs Medicaid expansion such as West Virginia, where 28 percent of the state population is now enrolled in Medicaid, including 170,000 citizens who got it because of the expansion come to an agreement with senators such asTed Cruz (Tex.) and Mike Lee (Utah) who would like to see Medicaid undermined if not utterly destroyed? And can they all agree on something that can also get a majority in the House, where ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus members wield so much power?

So here are the potential outcomes:

The hurdles in front of that last outcome seem insurmountable, but anything is possible. But if it doesnt happen, that sets up still another possibility: Once the repeal effort is behind us, we might actually take some steps to improve the health-care system.

In this scenario, Republicans would no longer be able to dismiss any reform idea with, We cant think about that, because we have to repeal Obamacare. You might even get some innovative thinking.

For instance, the Nevada legislature passed a bill allowing anyone to buy in to Medicaid. If you cant get other insurance or you dont like whats available on the exchanges, you could just pay premiums and join the government program. Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) hasnt said whether hell sign the bill and there are details to be worked out, but once ACA repeal is off the table, you could see other states deciding that now they have to try some new things. States that have seen private insurers depart the individual market could turn to the same solution. Some Republican states might even accept the ACAs Medicaid expansion (perhaps with some tweaks so they can say theyre being tougher on the shiftless poor), because all that federal money is just waiting to pour into their states and insure their citizens.

Im not saying Id trust Republicans anywhere to do the right thing when it comes to health care. But maybe this experience has taught them that theyd better come up with some solutions that actually help people. Anythings possible.

See the rest here:
Are Republicans ready to give up on repeal? Here's what might happen next. - Washington Post (blog)

Forbes

This Is Why Republicans Are So Afraid Of The Congressional Budget Office Forbes In theory, the Trump White House and congressional Republicans should be ecstatic that Congressional Budget Office exists right now. CBO's director -- Keith Hall -- is a Republican appointed in 2015 by then House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price ... and more »

View post:
This Is Why Republicans Are So Afraid Of The Congressional Budget Office - Forbes

Assembly Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping spending plan for Wisconsin schools that authors say will put more money into classrooms than what Gov. Scott Walker has proposed in his two-year state budget.

But minutes before it was rolled out, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, rejected the proposal, saying the Senate Republicans are sticking with Walker's proposal to add $649 million in new funding.

Tuesday's tensions signal the two houses may not come to an agreement before Thursday, the day Fitzgerald set for the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee to resume writing a 2017-19 budget or else he'd consider asking Senate Republicans to craft their own.

"The Assembly package that was endorsed today is simply not the direction that this budget is headed," Fitzgerald said Tuesday.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, fired back by saying he didn't understand why Fitzgerald would blast a proposal he hasn't seen and would just be a "rubber stamp" for Walker.

"There is absolutely no reason to make threats," Vos said about the idea of both houses crafting their budgets.

Meanwhile, finance committee co-chairman Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said budget negotiations likely won't resume until the two caucuses find common ground on education spending.

Walker, speaking to reporters in Wisconsin Dells, said because the Assembly Republicans' plan reduces his new spending and doesn't reduce property taxes below 2014 levels, it "goes at odds with what our top two priorities are."

"So my hope is, in the end well get a budget thats closer to where were at," Walker said.

The Assembly Republicans' plan would lower property taxes about $10 on a median-priced home from today's levels and about $121 under 2010 levels. But it doesn't meet the 2014 level that Walker has required to gain his signature.

Nygren said the most important piece of the plan is giving school districts that spend less per student than the state average the ability to raise property taxes -- about $92.2 million worth of property tax increases.

Such districts would be allowed to raise $9,800 per student under the plan. Nygren said school districts' limits on what they can raise ranges from $9,100 to $15,000.

"This proposal is addressing a significant challenge, and that is equity in school funding," he told reporters.

He said it "levels the playing field" between districts that were spending at a low rate when state lawmakers imposed caps on how much districts could raise property taxes in 1993 and districts that were spending at a higher rate then.

Nygren also said fewer referendums would be sought under the Assembly Republicans' plan. He said 55 percent of low-spending districts went to referendum since 2011.

The plan also adds $30 million more for the state's general funding mechanism for schools than what Walker has proposed. By cutting the state's school levy tax credit, more money will be spent in classrooms than what Walker has proposed, Vos said.

Walker has been touring the state promoting $649 million in new funding and the Assembly Republicans' plan would decrease that amount by about $70 million.

Senate Republicans say any decrease would be tough for public school officials and advocates to support. Minutes after the plan was released Tuesday the Wisconsin Association of School Boards issued a statement citing concerns with the decrease but supported its overall goal.

The Assembly Republicans also proposed getting rid of Walker's requirement in his state budget proposal to tie the new funding to whether a district is requiring its staff to pay at least 12 percent toward health care costs.

The plan also would allow students to enroll in private voucher schools if they were put on waiting lists in the last school year because of enrollments caps, and adds state funding for the statewide program. A new position would be created to administer the state's three voucher programs under the plan, too.

The Department of Public Instruction also would be required to decrease the number of licenses teachers must get to be in classrooms -- a proposal State Superintendent Tony Evers has supported.

The plan's release comes as budget negotiations have deteriorated and a planned Tuesday meeting of the finance committee to settle portions of the budget was canceled.

Disagreement have already led to an impasse among both houses and with Walker over the state's next transportation budget, and Walker's proposal for the state to self-insure state workers has been rejected by leaders of his own party.

Vos said Tuesday that he hopes the Senate will back off from outright rejection.

"I'm willing to negotiate at any time, any place, anywhere, as long as people of good will get together and don't draw hard lines in the sandbefore theyve even heard the other persons ideas," Vos said. He said he isn't concerned about the state's July 1 deadline to get the budget complete. Current spending levels continue if a new state budget is not passed by that date.

"Im not going to check the brain at the door and give up the principles our caucus stands for (for that deadline)," Vos said.

Senate Republicans met Tuesday after Fitzgerald rejected the Assembly's plan.

State Journal reporter Mark Sommerhauser contributed to this report.

Read more:
Assembly Republicans unveil sweeping education proposal but impasse continues - Madison.com

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

President Trump, after days of lashing out angrily at the London mayor and federal courts in the wake of the London Bridge terrorist attack, faces a convergence of challenges this week that threatens to exacerbate the fury that has gripped him and that could further hobble a Republican agenda that has slowed to a crawl on Capitol Hill.

Instead of hunkering down and delicately navigating the legal and political thicket as some White House aides have suggested Trump spent much of Monday launching volleys on Twitter, unable to resist continuing, in effect, as his own lawyer, spokesman, cheerleader and media watchdog.

Trump escalated his criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, incorrectly stating that Khan had told Londoners to not be alarmed about terrorism. He vented about the Justice Department, which he said pushed a politically correct version of his policy to block immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries, which Trump signed before it was halted in court. He also complained that Senate Democrats are taking forever to approve his appointees and ambassadors.

Inside the White House, top officials have in various ways gently suggested to Trump over the past week that he should leave the feuding to surrogates, according to two people who were not authorized to speak publicly. But Trump has repeatedly shrugged off that advice, these people said.

Not that Im aware of, White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday at a news conference when asked if the presidents tweets were being vetted by lawyers or aides.

Social media for the president is extremely important, Sanders said. It gives him the ability to speak directly to the people without the bias of the media filtering those types of communication.

Trumps refusal to disengage from the daily storm of news coming ahead of former FBI director James B. Comeys highly anticipated public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday is both unsurprising and unsettling to many Republicans, who are already skittish about the questions they may confront in the aftermath of the hearing. In particular, they foresee Democratic accusations that Trumps exchanges with Comey about the FBI probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign were an effort to obstruct justice.

Some Republicans fear that Trumps reactions will only worsen the potential damage.

Its a distraction, and he needs to focus, said former Trump campaign adviser Barry Bennett. Every day and moment he spends on anything other than a rising economy is a waste that disrupts everything.

Rick Tyler, a veteran Republican consultant, said Trumps relentlessness in using Twitter poses a serious obstacle for the White House.

I cant imagine internally theyre happy with his performance, Tyler said. The president is undermining his presidency whenever his staff says one thing and then he does another. Theyll say something youd expect, and then hell go off and bring in the gun debate to a terror attack.

Some Trump supporters also fear that his extemporaneous rebukes are upending the priorities he is trying to implement.

(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

George Conway, a well-known GOP lawyer who recently took himself out of the running to lead the Justice Departments civil division and is the husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, wrote on Twitter on Monday that Trumps fulminations on the travel ban could damage its chances.

These tweets may make some ppl feel better, but they certainly wont help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters. Sad, he wrote, using abbreviations for the Office of Solicitor General and the Supreme Court.

Trumps friends say hes just being himself.

Hes rightly frustrated, and he isnt always checking with his lawyers about each tweet. But hes getting his message out there, said Christopher Ruddy, a close associate of Trump and president of Newsmax Media, a conservative news organization. He is relying on himself to be the messenger.

It is an increasingly lonely endeavor. Trumps poll numbers have sagged, with Gallups daily tracking number showing him at 37 percent approval Monday, nearing the nadir of his presidency so far, while the RealClearPolitics polling average shows his approval rating just under 40percent.

Yet even among party leadership and senior advisers in the West Wing, many remain supportive of Trumps combative posture, unable or unwilling to usher him toward a less incendiary approach.

Its all infighting and leaks to the point where Trump is diluting his own proposals, Bennett said. I dont get it. Rather than getting him to talk about jobs, they stand by as he goes on about Mayor Khan.

The few who have spoken up have been careful to not provoke Trump. Unfortunately, the president has, I think, created problems for himself by his Twitter habit, Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), the No. 2 ranking Senate Republican, said with a tight smile during a Sunday interview on Dallas TV station WFAA.

Comeys testimony is one of a number of items on the White House radar this week that risk stoking Trumps rage.

A week after Trump declared his trip to the Middle East a success, the region was swept into turmoil Monday after four Arab nations Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain broke diplomatic relations with another U.S. ally, Qatar, which they have accused of supporting terrorism.

Several U.S. allies in Europe also have grown weary with Trump after he decided to withdraw the country last week from the Paris climate accord. One of his closer allies there, British Prime Minister Theresa May, responded uncomfortably Monday to Trumps outbursts about Khan, who is Muslim, as the United Kingdom was coping with the aftermath of the London Bridge attack, which killed seven.

I think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job, and its wrong to say anything else, May tersely told reporters.

In Congress, Trumps ambitions to pass a health-care overhaul and tax changes have been stymied by party infighting and growing nervousness about the potential political cost, especially in the more moderate Senate. The only major legislative accomplishment so far has been the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, which came in April after bypassing a Democratic blockade.

David Winston, a Republican pollster who works closely with congressional GOP leaders, said lawmakers are eager to avoid discussions on issues that do not have to do with their agenda including Trumps tweets and said an extended delay on big-ticket legislation would pose a problem.

Anytime theyre not talking about the economy or jobs, they know thats not what the electorate is looking for, Winston said. Its going to be the responsibility of the White House to provide that context when the news cycle and media has their attention elsewhere, he added.

Ongoing turmoil in the White House only exacerbates the problems. Talk of possible staff changes has fueled a rush of stories that irritate Trump, who disdains news coverage of his advisers and their many rivalries. Former campaign loyalists, such as Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, have been spotted heading to the Oval Office for meetings.

Meanwhile, the Russia-related questions are ubiquitous. Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel delving into potential ties between Trumps campaign and Russia, is busy at work, and Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is a focus of the investigation, according to people familiar with the probe.

Trump allies have for weeks discussed the possible formation of a Russia-focused war room either inside or outside the administration, but any such operation has yet to be formally announced. The president has retained an outside legal team, however, while Bossie and Lewandowski have been mentioned as possible leaders of an advocacy group that would defend Trump after Comeys testimony.

The White House has gamely attempted to ignore the fallout from Trumps latest tweets, pressing forward Monday with a conventional rollout of parts of a promised infrastructure program.

Standing in a dark suit and red-striped tie at the White House in front of Cabinet officials and Vice President Pence, Trump endorsed a plan to spin off more than 30,000 federal workers, including thousands of air traffic controllers, into a private nonprofit corporation and he railed against the Obama administrations previous work to improve the Federal Aviation Administration.

The current [aviation] system cannot keep up, has not been able to keep up for many years, Trump said. Were still stuck with an ancient, broken, antiquated, horrible system that doesnt work.

It was a brief respite from rancor. A few hours later, this time on Facebook, Trump was back at it, posting a video and fervent note to his millions of followers.

We need the Travel Ban not the watered down, politically correct version the Justice Department submitted to the Supreme Court, but a MUCH TOUGHER version! Trump wrote. We cannot rely on the MSM to get the facts to the people. Spread this message. SHARE NOW.

See more here:
As Trump lashes out, Republicans grow uneasy - Washington Post

President Trump is dining with a group of Republican lawmakers on Tuesday night, including several who are slated to question former FBI Director James Comey during this week's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

The White House said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton who sit on the intelligence committee will be among the six GOP lawmakers having dinner at the White House. Earlier Tuesday, Trump is meeting with congressional GOP leadership at the White House, including Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is also on the committee.

Comey, who was fired by Trump last month, is scheduled to testify before the intelligence committee on Thursday. He is expected to be asked about his conversations with the president and whether Trump pressured Comey to end the FBI's probe into any ties between his campaign and Russia.

Over the last few days, the White House had considered invoking executive privilege to prevent Comey from testifying, on the grounds that the executive branch has the right to withhold information from conversations between the president and other officials.

But the White House ruled that out on Monday. "The president's power to assert executive privilege is very well established," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said. "However, in order to facilitate a swift examination of the facts sought by the intelligence committee, President Trump will not assert executive privilege regarding James Comey's scheduled testimony."

Other Republican lawmakers eating dinner with Trump in the White House residence are Indiana Sen. Todd Young, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, Florida Rep. Francis Rooney and New York Rep. Lee Zeldin.

Continue reading here:
Trump dining with several Republicans on Senate Intelligence Committee ahead of James Comey hearing - Washington Examiner