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President Donald J. Trump welcomed the House Republican Deputy Whip Team to the East Room of the White House on Monday to discuss coordinated efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Obamacare, the President noted, is collapsing. Insurers continue to flee the exchanges while premiums and deductibles skyrocket. He stressed the need to take action now to deliver on Republicans long-standing promise to repeal the disastrous law and replace it with a system that adheres to principles he outlined in his recent address to a joint session of Congress.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise thanked the President for following through on his promise to rescue people from the Obamacare disaster, and lauded last weeks address, calling it One of the best speeches I have heard from a President.

The group discussed strategy to ensure the healthcare bill passes the House and Senate. The President assured the Deputy Whip Team members that he has their back in their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, and he reiterated his desire for Congress to move swiftly to deliver results for the American people.

The President said he plans to reconvene the group next week to continue working closely to pass this important bill.

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Readout of President Trump's Meeting with the House Republican Deputy Whip Team - Whitehouse.gov (press release)

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday said he's worried Illinois "won't do very well" if the proposed U.S. House Republican Obamacare replacement plan becomes law.

The governor's comments were his first since congressional Republicans unveiled their changes Monday. The plan would cut federal funding to Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled paid for with state and federal dollars.

In Illinois, about 3 million, or 1 of every 4, residents are on Medicaid, including about 650,000 people insured under Medicaid expansion. The state is getting an estimated $14.1 billion in federal money this year to support traditional Medicaid and Medicaid expansion.

The House GOP plan would switch state reimbursement from a federal match to a limited amount of money, blowing a big hole in a state budget that's already severely out of whack amid a record impasse in Springfield.

Rauner referred to the proposal as "a pretty significant shift" but said he hadn't had a chance to "analyze every piece" of the legislation.

"My first blush read is Illinois won't do very well under the changes that they're recommending, which is a big concern to me," Rauner said. "I want to make sure that people in Illinois are not left in the lurch or that, you know, there's a lot of pressure to reduce insurance coverage for people in Illinois. I'm very concerned about that."

Rauner said he had spoken with fellow governors and with members of the Trump administration about his concerns regarding Medicaid, but he refused to tell reporters what those concerns were. He said he planned to talk with members of Congress and with governors "to craft a joint response or some recommendations to what's been proposed."

"It's a little early for me to publicly state what I've recommended," Rauner said.

Also Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel criticized the Republican plan, saying it would cost millions of low-income Americans their health insurance while driving up health care costs across the country.

The mayor said he discussed the bill unveiled this week by the GOP at the behest of President Donald Trump with his brother, renowned health care ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel.

"I have not had a chance to go through the whole bill, but I have read parts of it, and I at least called the family expert, my older brother," Emanuel said. "And my fears, which is true, and that is more people are going to lose health care, you're going to get away from the cost containment that has happened, and it's directly going to impact poor and working poor, or working lower middle-class access to quality care because of the way it's designed."

The mayor contrasted the Republican plan with the work he said went into crafting the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare when he was chief of staff in the Obama White House.

"At no point in those two years did anybody ever say, 'You know what we should do? Let's cut taxes for health insurance executives.' That never came up," he said. "The entire discussion was, how do you keep health care costs under control, and how do you expand health care. Not how do you provide a tax cut to CEOs of health insurance companies and then diminish people's access to quality health care."

The plan Republicans in the House released Monday evening would phase out funding to states that use Medicaid to provide health insurance to low-income residents. It also would roll back taxes on high incomes, including a clause in Obamacare to tax insurance executives who make more than $500,000.

Obamacare has been in Republicans' crosshairs for years, and Trump has made its repeal a key part of his platform. It's far from certain this proposal unveiled by House Republicans will make it to Trump's desk, however. A handful of Republican senators have already expressed misgivings about it.

Chicago Tribune's Lisa Schencker contributed.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

kgeiger@chicagotribune.com

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Rauner: Illinois 'won't do very well' under Republican health insurance plan - Chicago Tribune

Southern California venture capitalist John Cox announced he is joining the 2018 governor's race.

Southern California venture capitalist John Cox announced he is joining the 2018 governor's race.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is also running for governor in 2018.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is also running for governor in 2018.

California State Treasurer John Chiang has also entered the governor's race to replace Jerry Brown.

California State Treasurer John Chiang has also entered the governor's race to replace Jerry Brown.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is also running for governor in 2018.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is also running for governor in 2018.

Former California state schools chief Delaine Eastin is another Democrat who has joined the race for governor in 2018.

Former California state schools chief Delaine Eastin is another Democrat who has joined the race for governor in 2018.

Republican businessman John Cox enters 2018 governors race

Southern California venture capitalist John Cox became the first major Republican to jump into the 2018 governors race Tuesday, saying he would reform state government by making it more representative and removing the influence of big money.

There are two Californias the one we have, and the one we could have. The California we have is in trouble, and we need to do something about it, Cox, 61, said in announcing his campaign via Facebook video.

Cox, who ran for office three times in his native Illinois but never won, joins four Democrats as declared candidates: former Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Treasurer John Chiang, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin. Cox, who has lived in California for eight years, is a resident of Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County.

In 2016 he spent $1 million on a proposed ballot measure that would have required legislators to wear the corporate logos of their top 10 donors when advocating for a measure in the Legislature. It did not qualify.

As he tried to do in 2014, Cox wants to put a measure on the 2018 ballot to create a neighborhood legislature. By dividing current Assembly and Senate districts into smaller pieces so each assembly member represents about 5,000 people and each senator about 10,000 constituents, Cox said it would remove the incentive for legislators to spend an inordinate amount of time fundraising and currying favor with monied interests.

He bristled at the notion that it would betray conservative principles by creating a larger bureaucracy, with hundreds more representatives.

I know thats what my opponents are going to try to say, Cox said in an interview Tuesday, but it actually will save more than $100 million, pointing to a nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office report on a previous neighborhood legislature measure that failed to qualify for the ballot.

Cox faces an uphill battle in a state where only 26 percent of voters are registered Republicans. No Republicans hold statewide office, and Democrats have a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature.

Cox declined to say whether he voted for President Trump, who remains highly unpopular in California, according to recent polls.

I know my opponents will try to tie me to Mr. Trump. I am not Mr. Trump, Cox said. Im analytical, Im policy-oriented. I read five newspapers a day. Im not a reality TV star thats going to insult people. Im going to try to rally people.

He also declined to state his positions on social issues like abortion rights or same-sex marriage. Thats not what Im running on at all, he said.

Still, Cox could give Republicans an opportunity as the Democratic favorites are either consummate insiders or products of the political system. So this gives Republicans a chance to say this is no longer business as usual, said David McCuan, professor of political science at Sonoma State University. But on the downside, their (Republican) politics of usual is called irrelevance at the state level.

Coxs main challenge is that unlike is his Democratic opponents, who have held elective office, Californians have no idea who he is, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. And while Cox is wealthy he has already put $1 million into his campaign Kousser said, Hes a millionaire, not a billionaire.

Cox said he is not fully self-funding his candidacy. He argued that he is a self-made man who was raised by a single mother and worked two jobs to help put himself through college and law school.

Im not going to apologize for being successful, Cox said.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli

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Republican businessman John Cox enters 2018 governor's race - SFGate

New York Times

Republican Party, Central Intelligence Agency: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing New York Times 1. WikiLeaks' latest release, if confirmed, appears certain to rock the technology world and deliver a serious blow to the C.I.A.. The so-called Vault 7 documents offer details of what are described as highly classified C.I.A. hacking tools used to ...

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Republican Party, Central Intelligence Agency: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing - New York Times

Google is looking for someone to lead Republican political advertising, according to a recent job posting. The position will lead the sales team managing accounts for GOP campaigns.

This is at least the second role relating to Republican outreach that Google has advertised publicly. While the posting appears to be routine, it comes at a time when the GOP is in power both in the White House and Congress. It would make sense for the company to expand roles aimed at cementing GOP relationships.

In December, Google advertised to fill a manager to handle conservative outreach, described in the listing, as Googles liaison to conservative, libertarian and free market groups.

The outreach position was filled by Max Pappas, who had been an aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, according to Politico Pro. Lee Carosi Dunn, who previously served as head of election sales, now heads White House outreach, according to the story.

Bloomberg reported the outreach job was not new, and that the previous policy specialist in the role had worked on Mitt Romneys 2012 campaign for president. Still, the listing gained attention for having been posted in the wake of President Donald Trumps election. Google had a cozy relationship with the White House during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Google has tried to forge a relationship with Trump since the election, but has also openly opposed his policies.

Shortly before President Donald Trumps inauguration, Alphabet chairman and former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt reportedly met privately at Trump Tower in New York with White House adviser and son-in-law to the president, Jared Kushner.

Since the inauguration, Google employees and executives have protested Trumps actions, including a ban on immigration from a list of predominantly Muslim countries.

In the case of the recently advertised Washington D.C.-based job, Google is looking for someone well connected. The ideal candidate should have a wealth of experience with Republican campaigns and have strong relationships with GOP campaign managers, pollsters and general consultants.

Google declined to comment for this story.

This story has been updated to include additional details about recent hires at Google.

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Google is hiring a head of Republican political advertising - Recode - Recode