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A key House Republican has written an online column that describes the transgender bathroom debate as a distraction built, in part, on duplicitous grandstanding by politicians.

The posting on the Texas GOP Vote website is significant because Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, is chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, which will handle legislation pertaining to transgender bathroom use.

As the special session continues to unfold, I am disappointed that our great state is continuing to waste so much time over the bathroom debate, Cook wrote, saying the issue is a smokescreen threats facing rural communities and schools.

Cook went on to explain his position on the issue, saying he supports legislation that limits admittance (based on gender at birth) to multi-stall bathrooms and locker rooms in our schools and requires local schools districts to develop single-stall bathroom policies for its transgender students.

Beyond clarifying this policy for our public schools, we already have strong laws in Texas against sexual predators. Therefore, I do not condone duplicitous grandstanding on this issue and/or discriminatory legislation; nor do I support laws that will adversely affect our states economy, he wrote.

The Texas Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 3 shortly after midnight Wednesday, sending the bill to an uncertain reception in the House, where Speaker Joe Straus has already announced sharp opposition to the issue.

The State Affairs Committee also has not set a hearing on two bills by Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton House Bill 50, which would ban schools from adopting policies that extend anti-discrimination protection to bathroom, locker room and changing room use, and HB 46, which would extend that prohibition to local governments as well as schools.

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Key House Republican calls bathroom bills a distraction - Austin American-Statesman

Somewhere between Alaska and West Virginia, theres an invisible line dividing the Republican Party.

Not literally, of course or, for that matter, even figuratively. But in the highly contentious battle over whether the Senate should move forward in its pursuit of an overhaul of Obamacare, the ideological gulf between Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) was what separated a yes from a no.

The motion to proceed vote was decided when Vice President Pence broke a 50-50 tie on Tuesday, a tie that resulted from two Republicans joining 48 Democrats and the Senates two independents to stop the health-care bill (or, really, the concept of a bill) from moving forward. Those two Republicans were Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the two most moderate members of the Republican caucus according to data compiled by VoteView.com.

Visually, it looks like this. The higher the dot, the more conservative the senator. Dots farther to the left mark senators who represent states that backed Hillary Clinton last year by a wide margin; those farther to the right backed President Trump.

The line were talking about is the dashed one running horizontally between the black Murkowski dot and the red Capito one the split. Every senator under that line voted no. Every senator above it voted for the motion to proceed.

Capito seemed like she was likely to vote no until Tuesday morning. A week ago, she publicly declared her opposition to pressing forward without a bill she could support. When push came to shove, that promise fell by the wayside. That her dot is so far to the right might help explain why: West Virginia was a fervently pro-Trump state in 2016, unlike, say, Maine. But, then, her fellow senator, Joe Manchin III the uppermost dot/most conservative of the Democrats voted no.

Also highlighted are three senators whose votes seemed particularly important on Tuesday. Nevadas Dean Heller had publicly wavered on backing the Republican bill; he voted with his party. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was one of the final two senators to vote, playing coy with the media and then casting a yes, as could have been predicted. Likewise John McCain (R-Ariz.) who cast the other of the last two votes. Each of those three senators are from states that voted fairly purple last year, but ideologically, they were more in line with the rest of their caucus than were Collins or Murkowski.

We dont know that the split line itself is particularly important or wedded tightly to the result of the vote. But we will note that the number of Republican senators as moderate or more moderate than Murkowski is lower in the past three congresses than at any point prior, with most of the partys caucus being at least as conservative as or more conservative than Capito. A similar vote in past congresses, we might assume, would have yielded much different results.

Where the line may become important is once the Senate figures out what its actually voting on. Nearly any legislation that will be offered will end up offering a more conservative choice than simply whether to proceed with debate. In other words, the line will theoretically move up. Will Capito still back it? Will McCain, after offering hints on Tuesday that he might not? This is where other factors come in Hellers 2018 reelection, for example, or that pro-Trump fervor in West Virginia.

In this first vote, though, the line fell in just the right place for Senate Republicans to claim victory. As the president put it in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday afternoon:

Its a very, very difficult situation, he said, because you move a little to the left, and you lose four guys. You move a little bit to the right, and all of a sudden you have a bloc of people who are gone. You have a one-inch road and it wheels through the middle of the valley.

On Tuesday, that road actually ran somewhere between Juneau and Charleston.

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Where the ideological line was drawn in the Republican health-care vote - Washington Post

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins on Tuesday was recorded making critical comments about the Trump administration's understanding of the legislative process during a Senate subcommittee hearing.

Collins discussed Republican President Donald Trump and the federal budget with Democratic Senator Jack Reed at the end of a Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittee hearing, according to a tape obtained by the Washington Post.

On the recording, Collins suggests the Office of Management and Budget is being capricious in its approach to reducing spending.

"No thinking about it, no metrics, no nothing. It's just incredibly irresponsible," Collins said, according to a Post report and accompanying audio.

"I think I think he's crazy," Reed replied in an apparent reference to Trump.

"I don't think he knows there is a BCA (Budget Control Act) or anything," Collins later said, apparently referring to the president and a 2011 budget law.

Collins spokeswoman Annie Clark told Reuters that Collins is worried about the elimination of funding for transportation and housing programs in Trump's budget.

Reed spokesman Chip Unruh said the senator was "letting Senator Collins know he's in her corner."

"He has said it publicly and privately: The Trump Administration is behaving erratically and irresponsibly," Unruh said in an email to Reuters.

Later in the recording, Collins also responds to a Republican representative, Blake Farenthold, who said recently that he wished he could to challenge her to a duel over her healthcare bill opposition. Collins was one of just two Senate Republicans on Tuesday who voted against beginning debate on a bill to replace Obamacare.

"Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this Playboy bunny?" Collins asked Reed, saying that Farenthold was "huge," and referencing a 2010 picture of Farenthold that made the rounds on Twitter.

Collins said in a statement that "neither weapons nor inappropriate words" were the right way to resolve legislative disputes.

"I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning.I accept his apology, and I offer him mine," she said.

Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Jonathan Oatis

Link:
Republican senator recorded criticizing Trump - Reuters

July 25, 2017, 12:24 p.m.

Sen. Susan Collins is not a big fanof President Trump, but it's doubtful the Maine Republicanwould have said "I'mworried" about his administrationif she had known the comments would be broadcast to theworld.

That's what happened Tuesday when she and Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, were caught in a candid conversation on a hot microphone, after an appropriations subcommittee session.

The two were overheard expressing concern with Trump's grasp of reality and policy while Collins was heard disparaging the appearance of a Republican House member who had publicly chastised her and other "female senators from the Northeast" who opposed Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare.

The comments were first reported by the Washington Post.

I think hes crazy. I mean, I dont say that lightly and as a kind of a goofy guy, Reedsays at one point, apparently referring to Trump. The remark came after Collins expressed concern that the White House haddrafted a budget that has "no thinking" and is "incredibly irresponsible."

"I'm worried," Collins replied.

The comments from sitting senators from each party are not only embarrassing to Trump, but could also make life difficult for Collins, who is already facing heat for bucking the Republican Party on healthcare.

She's been the most consistent critic of the party's plans to repeal or rewrite Obamacare-- one of two Republicans who voted Tuesday against the motion to begin debate on the healthcare bill.

While many Republican lawmakers express private frustration with Trump, polls show large majoritiesof Republican voters still approve of his performance in office.

Later Tuesday, Collins' office sent a statement fromcommunications director Annie Clark saying that Collins was "worried" about Trump's budget.

"Senator Collins is worried aboutthe elimination of transportation and housing programs in the Presidents budget request that are critically important to local communities across our country," she said, pointing out specific grant programs that Trump has proposed eliminating.

In addition to agreeing with Reed that Trump lacks understanding of the budget process, Collins engages in banter with him aboutTexas GOP Rep.Blake Farenthold. Last week, Farenthold told a radio host that he would love to challenge Collins and other female Republicans who opposed the GOP health bill to a duel.

"If it was a guy from South Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style," he said.

On Tuesday, Collins referredto the incident with a laugh.

"Do you know why he challenged you to a duel? Cause you could beat the [expletive] out of him, said Reed.

Hes huge, Collins replies. ...I dont mean to be unkind, but hes so unattractive its unbelievable.

In the same email that clarified her "worried" comments, Collins' office tried to make peace with Farenthold, with a statement from Collins.

"Neither weapons nor inappropriate words are the right way to resolve legislative disputes," she said."I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning.I accept his apology, and I offer him mine."

Go here to read the rest:
GOP senator says 'I'm worried' about Donald Trump, calls Republican congressman 'so unattractive' - Los Angeles Times

The Senate on Tuesday night voted against a version of the Republican health care overhaul plan, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The procedural vote was technically on whether the amendment complies with the budget act, but practically means that the BCRA can't become law without being substantially rewritten.

This week senators will debate and vote on several more amendments to a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

A vote on a final bill is expected later this week. We are tracking these votes live as they happen.

2. Better Care Reconciliation Act

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Read more from the original source:
How Each Senator Voted on Full Obamacare Repeal-and-Replace - New York Times