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Stung by the defeat of their ObamaCare repeal plan, GOP leaders are doing what they can to avoid a messy spending fight with Democrats that would risk a government shutdown.

Senate Republican leaders signaled Tuesday they would set aside President Trumps controversial request for a military supplemental bill that would include funding to begin construction of a wall along the southern border.

Speaking at a leadership press conference at the request of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellThe truth is the latest casualty of todays brand of politics McCain and Graham: We won't back short-term government funding bill Senate seen as starting point for Trumps infrastructure plan MORE (R-Ky.), Sen. Roy BluntRoy BluntMembers help package meals at Kraft Heinz charity event in DC White House signals it can live without border wall funds Interior secretary hints border wall could be on Mexican land MORE (R-Mo.) said the supplemental bill would likely move at a later time.

Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanOvernight Healthcare: Insurers face big choice on staying in ObamaCare | HHS chief Price grilled over budget cuts Poll: Republicans blame Congress, not Trump or Ryan, for ObamaCare failure Paul Ryan sells out conservatives with healthcare surrender MORE (R-Wis.), meanwhile, sought to avoid another political landmine Tuesday by arguing that language defunding Planned Parenthood should be kept out of the spending legislation that needs to pass by April 28.

The Speaker said he wants to address defunding Planned Parenthood, long a conservative priority, through a special budgetary process that requires only 51 votes to pass the Senate.

We think reconciliation is the tool, because that gets it in law, Ryan told reporters, referring to the procedural track leaders tried to use to pass the failed healthcare bill. Reconciliation is the way to go.

The signals from the House and Senate indicate Republicans are coming to grips with the reality that they cant pass critical legislation on their own.

Some conservatives are still insisting that Republicans plow ahead with linking the border wall and Planned Parenthood to the spending bill.

But other Republicans wary after the healthcare failure assume the Freedom Caucus will do as they did in the healthcare debate and end up opposing the funding legislation no matter what concessions are made.

Keeping the government open may be one of the few areas where Republicans can expect assistance from Democrats, who are otherwise ardently opposed to their agenda.

I am confident they would do it to keep the government open and to keep us from defaulting on the debt. Those two issues, I see them working with us. And if we do, well have Republicans in the Freedom Caucus that wont like the fact were not getting much back in return, said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), a Trump ally.

Fears of a possible government shutdown grew on Capitol Hill after conservative and centrist Republicans derailed legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare, one of Trumps top priorities.

The legislative setback raised questions over the ability of Republican leaders to move a must-pass spending package before government funding expires.

Yes, I am worried, Sen. John McCainJohn McCainOvernight Defense: Top general talks Afghanistan, civilian casualties | Defense hawks slam short-term funding McCain and Graham: We won't back short-term government funding bill GOP lawmaker calls for select committee on Russia MORE (R-Ariz.) told reporters when asked about a possible government shutdown.

Republicans fret that a shutdown only a few months into Trumps term could raise questions about their basic ability to govern, with the ramifications felt in the 2018 midterm elections.

Shutting down the government when its a Republican government and a Republican Congress is not an option, said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Even Rep. Trent FranksTrent FranksRepublicans seek to lower odds of a shutdown Nunes endures another rough day Live coverage: House pulls ObamaCare repeal bill MORE (R-Ariz.), a Freedom Caucus member and ardent foe of abortion, acknowledged attempts to defund Planned Parenthood wouldnt overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Were going to have a very challenging situation there with the Senate rules, Franks said.

The budget proposal Trump submitted to Congress this month included a supplemental request for $30 billion in emergency defense funds and $3 billion to begin construction of the border wall and tighten homeland security.

Senate Democrats warned Republican leaders in a recent letter that they will block spending legislation that includes money for the border wall, cuts nondefense domestic programs or includes poison pill riders.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick DurbinDick DurbinRepublicans seek to lower odds of a shutdown No. 2 Senate Democrat opposes Trump's Supreme Court pick The Hills Whip List: 32 Dems are against Trumps Supreme Court nominee MORE (Ill.) predicted Republicans would get blamed for a shutdown because they control the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Weve given fair warning to the Republicans. If they want to play games and have a government shutdown, thats their decision. If they want to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, they can do it easily.

Theyre in charge; they have the majority, he said.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) predicted Tuesday that Republicans would need Democratic help to pass the spending bill, a scenario that has played out repeatedly since the GOP won the House majority in 2010.

Theyve always needed the help of Democrats, Hoyer told reporters. If the government shuts down, there is no doubt it will be because Republicans refused to come to a reasonable consensus with us.

Blunt on Tuesday said leaders in both chambers are close to negotiating a deal on the fiscal 2017 defense spending bill, which will be used as a vehicle to carry legislation funding other federal departments.

All of the committees, House and Senate leaderships, are working together to try to finalize the rest of the FY17 bill, he added. My guess is that comes together better without the supplemental.

Despite his comments, House GOP leaders havent ruled out linking funds for the wall to next months spending fight. The House Appropriations Committee has not yet decided whether to do so.

Some House conservatives are pushing for a down payment on the wall despite the risk of a showdown with Democrats.

Thats what I want. I want to get this wall up and going, said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa).

But Republican leaders want to score a legislative victory instead of picking a fight with Democrats likely to end in stalemate.

They want to pass an omnibus spending package that would set new funding formulas for the rest of 2017 instead of settling for a stopgap spending measure that would merely extend the allocations previously set for 2016.

Congress has so far passed only one regular spending bill for 2017, a measure funding military buildup and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Theres no desire for a CR, McConnell said, referring to a continuing resolution that would extend current funding levels.

We fully anticipate getting an outcome prior to the end of April. We have to, actually, he said.

Passing an omnibus spending package instead of a continuing resolution will also help GOP leaders avoid a fight with pro-defense members of their own party who want to increase defense funding.

The spending package now under negotiation includes some additional money for the Pentagons overseas contingency operations fund, according to a Senate aide.

Im not going to vote for a CR. A CR is a complete failure when it comes to the Defense Department, said Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey GrahamOvernight Defense: Top general talks Afghanistan, civilian casualties | Defense hawks slam short-term funding McCain and Graham: We won't back short-term government funding bill Members help package meals at Kraft Heinz charity event in DC MORE (R-S.C.), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

A CR is a cut in defense. You go back to last years level. We appropriated more money in this years 2017 appropriations bills. Its a major cut, billions of dollars, he added.

Graham said it makes sense to delay consideration of the supplemental spending bill.

I dont think wed spend $30 billion on the Defense Department between now and September, quite frankly, he said.

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Republicans seek to lower odds of a shutdown - The Hill

Faced with the full catastrophe governing, Republicans are fixating on Elizabeth Warren to save themselves in 2018.

Republicans have been casting about for someone to blame for their rapid succession of moral, ideological andlegislative failures ever since Donald Trump settled into the Oval Office. No longer tethered together by their favorite scapegoat, Barack Obama, their ship has becomeunmoored amid a fleet ofsinkingcampaign promises. The one thing on which they seem to agree is that they have to give their base someone to latch on to lest their glaringincompetency become the focus of 2018. So beholdElizabeth Warren is the new Barack Obama, writes Pema Levy.

Republicans have decided to use Warren as a sort of boogeyman ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when 10 Democratic senators are up for reelection in states Donald Trump won. By late February, the committee tasked with electing Republicans to the Senate launched digital ads attacking vulnerable Democrats by stating how often they had voted with Warren. [...]

Warren, a household name and an unapologetic liberal, is an easy choice. Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist in Washington, DC, says going after Warren is part of the Republican playbook for 2020, as well. "Always define your opponent before your opponent can define you," he says.

The notion that the GOP will be able to do anything whatsoever to distract voters from the governing meltdownthey are now witnessing at the hands of Republicansis laughable. "Hey voters, forget that Russia-installed marionetteoccupying the White House and our health reform catastrophe seven years in the makinglook over there at Elizabeth Warren. Now, that's one scarychick!" Gimme a break. Republicans releasingdigital ads as early as last monthis proof positivethat they have to get a jump on campaigning because theyve already hit the wall on governing.

And if they think Warren will be a disaster inred states, that's certainly not what Missouri Democrat Jason Kander found during his 2016 Senate run. After deploying Warren in emails and at fundraisers, Kander campaign manager Abe Rakov says, bring it!

"After she was here, we saw our volunteer numbers go up, we saw our fundraising go up," he recalls. Over the course the election, he says, Kander's campaign had built up "a lot of evidence that it was sort of a Republican myth that she would cause us problems."

Dream on, GOP.

Read the rest here:
Republicans have found their boogeyman for 2018 and he's a she, of course - Daily Kos

President Trump promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act "immediately" and "on Day 1" while on the campaign trail. But now, he claims he never said he'd get health care reform done quickly. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

After a smarting defeat on health care, President Trump is moving on to an ambitious bid to rewrite the U.S. tax code. But the ultra-conservative GOP lawmakers who stymied Trump on health care aren't going away, and if Trump is to avoid a second major setback in Congress, he'll need towin over far more of them this time around.

The "House Freedom Caucus,"as the few dozen members of the group callthemselves, blocked Trump and Ryan's health-care bill because it wasn't conservative enough for them, offering too much in the way of benefits and interfering too much in the insurance market. When it became clear the vast majority of thegroup's members were voting no, Trump after a consultation withHouse Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) pulled the bill.

The good news for Trump and Ryan, however, is that they and the House Freedom Caucus have, in their public statements, expressed broad areas of agreement on what to do with the tax code.There's still, however, plenty of potential for conflict as Trump, Ryan and the caucus once again come together in search of a deal.

Here's whatthe House Freedom Caucus's members have said they're looking for.

Members of the group generally endorse the same basic principles for reform: Reduce tax rates for everyone. Then, to make up for some of the revenue the government is foregoing under those new rates, eliminate special deductions, exemptions and loopholes that allow certain categories of taxpayers to avoid paying taxes on portions of their income.

This has long been the position of conservative Republicans, and itis also the approach embodied in the plans proposed by Republicans, including Trump and Ryan. For instance, the plan Ryan and his colleagues in the House put forward last year would eliminate all deductions for individual taxpayers except for the deductions for mortgage interest and charitable giving. Those deductions allow Americans to avoid taxes on money they pay in interest on their homes, along with any donations they make.

That plan might not go far enough for a conservative lawmaker like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). In 2013, Massie told Bloomberg he supported a single tax rate for all taxpayers, with no exceptions whatsoever. I love the flat tax, and Im not afraid of getting rid of every deduction, Massie said.

All the same, mainstream Republicans are basically in agreement with their party's conservative faction when it comes to taxes at least to a far greater degree than they were on health care.

Republicans believe health-care reform is still possible even after House leadership pulled the bill abruptly before it was scheduled for a vote. (Alice Li,Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post)

Closing loopholes could, in theory, allow Republicans to deliver their promised rate cuts without decreasing the totalrevenue going to the government a combination that would keepthe new legislation from adding to the federal debt.

Under Ryan's plan, by contrast, reduced taxes would mean the federal government would give up at least $2.5 trillion in revenue over a decade, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The figure accounts for increased economic growth, so that is $2.5 trillion that the federal government would have to borrow unless lawmakers found other ways of limiting deductions and loopholes or federal expenditures to save money.

So far, members of the Freedom Caucus have indicated they could accept a plan that implied more borrowing. They are less concerned about closing loopholes than they are about making sure rates go down and that, in general, Americans pay less in taxes.

"I think there's been a lot of flexibility in terms of some of my contacts and conservatives in terms of not making it totally offset," Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told ABC News on Sunday on "This Week," arguing that tax cuts would provide financial relief for ordinary American families.

"Does it have to be fully offset?" Meadows asked. "My personal response is no."

To address the deficit, members of the group almost universally favor steep cuts in government spending, part of an overall mission to shrink government and limit its reach. They also generally believe that lower taxes will produce massive economic growth, so much so that the government may collect even more than it would have under the former higher-taxes, slower-growth scenario.

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) hinted at that last month onCNN, suggested he would be willing to consider new spending on some of Trump's priorities once taxes had been reduced. "Those spending pieces, we'll debate those coming up the military, the wall, the infrastructure plan but you've got to see tax reform in place first," Brat told CNN last month. "Otherwise, we can't afford it."

If those economic benefits do not materialize, though, the government would be forced to borrow more as it went deeper in debt.

There is one element of Ryan's plan that could be cause for concern among the Freedom Caucus. The plan would effectively levy a new tax on imports, while exempting goods and services exported from the United States for sale abroad from taxation.

Ryan and his allies argue this provision, known as a border adjustment, would simplify the tax system. In essence, the border adjustment would relieve federal authorities of the responsibility of investigating taxpayers' business overseas. Proponents also say the provision would encourage manufacturers to produce domestically and to hire American workers.

Yet conservative lawmakers such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are opposed to any new kind of tax. The border adjustment could increase prices for American consumers buying products from abroad, although economists and legal experts debate the plan's likely practical consequences for customers, and the effects could vary for different businesses.

"My reasoning is very basic," Jordan told the Atlantic. "The idea that youre going to add an entirely new tax is a big problem."

Meadows is not eager for a border adjustment, either, Axios reported. The lack of support from conservative lawmakers could be a problem for GOP leaders.

Republicans are trying to avoid a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. To do so, they will have to write legislation that does not increase the federal borrowing over the long term and they are hoping the border adjustment will help them do so.

Because the United States currently imports more than it exports, the new tax on imports would far exceed the exemption for exports. As a result, the border adjustment would bring in billions in new revenue for the federal government, lessening the need for more borrowing.

In the long term, however, most economists expect U.S. exports to increase. Eventually, they predict, exports should exceed imports to the point where a border adjustment which gets rid of taxes on exports would cost the government money, adding to the national debt. It remains to be seen whether Congress's budgetary referees will give Republicans credit for controlling federal borrowing in the long term, given the uncertain trend in exports.

"Let's go ahead and pass one without [a] border adjustment," Meadows said.

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Here's what the Republicans who just stopped Trump want next - Washington Post

Good morning from Augusta, where Gov. Paul LePage is lining up with President Donald Trump and against many congressional Republicans after intra-party squabbling made leaders pull a proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on Friday.

The Republican governor was against the bill at its rollout early this month, but he went public in support of it on Thursday after Republicans made changes to the bill that he and other conservatives had asked for, such as an earlier wind-down of support for Medicaid expansion.

But conservatives wanted a fuller repeal, while a bloc of moderate Republicans including U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine opposed it after an estimate found that it would make 14 million people lose coverage by 2018 and increase premiums for many between ages 50 and 64.

On Thursday, LePage told WGAN that Republicans may have been moving too fast on health care. When asked if the bill was worthy of support, he said it was improving. But later that day, his office released a letter dated Wednesday in which he and other governors backed it with his spokeswoman calling it a start.

By Saturday, he was in war mode, telling Fox News Neil Cavuto that any Republican that did not support this effort for fixing the ACA, I think they should lose the next election and Congress is broken with a constitutional crisis looming.

I think the American people elected Donald Trump to bring some change and some reform to this country and if the Republicans in Congress dont realize it, its time for you go home, LePage said.

The governor will be bartending for charity in Hallowell tonight, so well try to ask him more or at least askhim for a stiff drink. More on that in tomorrows Daily Brief. Michael Shepherd

This time two years ago, Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin was facing a 2016 rematch from Democrat Emily Cain in Maines 2nd District. Now, hes a second-term congressman, which has dampened chatter about the 2018 race.

Now, one Democrat is now talking about taking on Poliquin Jonathan Fulford of Monroe, a construction company owner with a populist streak who said on Friday that hes considering a run and may be is more likely to run for the 2nd District than any other public office in 2018.

Fulford is best-known statewide for losing two close races in 2014 and 2016 to Maine Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, in Waldo County, a top legislative swing district.

He ran those races championing progressive causes such as universal health care and is from the wing of the party that pushed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to victory in Maine Democratic presidential caucuses in 2016. Fulford also ran unsuccessfully against Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett last year.

Fulford ran twice as a taxpayer-funded Clean Election candidate which isnt available for federal races and wondered aloud if a Sanders-style campaign model built on small donations would be an option against Poliquin, who raised more than $3.3 million for 2016s race.

Plus, he said theres a lot to get up to speed at the federal level on before running and henoted the possibility of a political realignment in 2018. Both Collins and Poliquin havent ruled out gubernatorial runs that would send politicians scrambling into new primary battles.

Im in the early stages of looking at all those and then evaluating whether or not it makes sense for me to run or not or me to support somebody else or what makes sense, Fulford said. And I dont have an answer yet. Michael Shepherd

Dont judge me. I recently introduced my younger son to Mr. T, who has long been one of my favorite American icons. Despite his tough image, hes a positive force on society and has done a lot of work to help kids. Hes currently a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, which I admit I havent watched but Ive been following his tweets. Sounds like the competition isnt going so well:

To any and everybody who ever felt like quitting Dont quit! he tweeted last night. Try to get back up! Dont stay down!

On the A-Team, however, hes just as likely to be punching bad guys in the face and driving that awesome red and black Chevy van like its a Ferrari. There are lots of explosions and gunfire but one truth about the show is no one ever gets hurt. The boy and I watched an episode the other night and I built Mr. T up, just like he deserved. The boy was impressed.

Daddy, if you were Mr. T what would you do to the bad guys? he said.

Id beat em up! I said. What would you do?

If I was Mr. T Id do a big belly flop right on them, he said.

Obviously, he requires more training. Heres your soundtrack. Christopher Cousins

Excerpt from:
LePage: Republicans who bucked Trump on health care should 'go home' - Bangor Daily News

New York Times

Dealt a Defeat, Republicans Set Their Sights on Major Tax Cuts New York Times WASHINGTON Picking themselves up after the bruising collapse of their health care plan, President Trump and Republicans in Congress will start this week on a legislative obstacle course that will be even more arduous: the first overhaul of the tax ... In the wake of failure, Republicans eager to push tax cutsMSNBC Priebus: In Wake Of Repeal Failure, Time For Republicans 'To Start Governing'TPM Donald Trump deepens Republican feud over health fiascoThe Australian all 125 news articles »

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Dealt a Defeat, Republicans Set Their Sights on Major Tax Cuts - New York Times