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Republicans 'frustrated' after healthcare fiasco BBC News Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he is "disappointed and frustrated" by the Senate's failure to repeal the Obama-era healthcare act. He is among several lawmakers to express frustration after three Republican senators opposed a bill to scale ... Republicans wave the white flag on their last best chance to repeal ObamacareWashington Post Republicans try to pick up the pieces after healthcare defeatReuters 'Wait for the show': how John McCain helped torpedo the Republican health planThe Guardian Stuff.co.nz all 2,638 news articles »

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Republicans 'frustrated' after healthcare fiasco - BBC News

Rep. Dave Trott (pictured in 2014) shocked a room of GOP lawmakers when he said the president had been unhelpful on health care.

As House Republicans vented about the Senates failure to repeal Obamacare at a private meeting Friday morning, one member suddenly stood up to pin the blame on someone else entirely: President Donald Trump.

Rep. Dave Trott shocked the room when he said the president had been unhelpful on health care, according to sources at the meeting. The second-term Republican from Michigan worried aloud that constant White House infighting was distracting from the Republican agenda and he said he felt the president could have done more to get the bill across the finish line.

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Trott was simply vocalizing whats on many members minds already, even if few say so publicly for fear of retribution. Hill Republicans are increasingly worried that Trumps penchant for drama and the constant bickering in the West Wing is going to crush their agenda.

This week, for instance, Republicans would have preferred to see the president spend more time shepherding the Senates floundering repeal effort rather than knocking Attorney General Jeff Sessions, several told POLITICO. As for Trumps new communication director, Anthony Scaramucci, Hill Republicans were dumbfounded by his comments earlier this week attacking now-former chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The drama continued into Friday, when Priebus resigned days after Scaramucci called him, in an interview with The New Yorker, a f------ paranoid schizophrenic and accused him of trying to c--- block him in the West Wing. All that came after press secretary Sean Spicers departure, which was also triggered by Scaramuccis arrival and the ongoing war within the White House.

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Theres a level of conversation coming out of the White House of the likes of which nobody has ever seen before, said Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who seconded Trotts comments during the closed-door GOP conference meeting. And so, as a consequence, not only do you have the normal impediments to legislative change, but youve got additional impediments that are self-created within the White House that impedes the presidents ability to lead.

Of course, Sanford has never been a Trump fan. The president, through budget director Mick Mulvaney, threatened to recruit a primary challenger against him if he voted against the Houses health care bill this spring. Sanford ultimately backed the bill.

But nowadays, Sanford is far from the only Republican criticizing the White Houses dysfunction. Two weeks ago, House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) fumed that the White Houses ongoing drip-drip in the Russia scandal was distracting from Republicans message.

Speaking to a gaggle of reporters off the House floor Friday before Priebus' departure was announced, Sanford said he agreed with Trotts comments, though he did not mention Trott by name.

That which is weird is getting weirder at the White House, Sanford continued. The new [communications director] has said things that are bizarre by any standards. And, consequently, they get covered things that have nothing to do with improving peoples lives.

A Trott spokesperson said the congressman is exasperated by the gridlock in Washington.

It feels like every time the House passes substantive legislation to better the lives of the American people it fails to come to fruition, the spokesperson said. Theres plenty of blame to go around, but Rep. Trott is focused on finding consensus and uniting the party so he can deliver real solutions for his constituents.

Some Republicans are frustrated with Trump, not just his staff.

They felt he should have spent more time talking about health care than tweeting about Hillary Clintons email practices. They also believe his comments about the Russia controversy make the matter only more prominent in the headlines.

Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican who voted against the House repeal bill, said the health care effort was doomed from the start in part because of Trump. The president, he argued, "never really laid out core principles and didnt sell them to the American people.

Usually the executive has to provide a plan and go out and sell it, he said. It was never really sold.

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Original post:
Republicans complain about White House infighting - Politico

If anyone has a question about the different priorities of our two major political parties, I suggest checking the "Votes in Congress" column in each Monday's Post-Dispatch. Several votes during the week of July 17-21 are proof positive that Republicans value profit at all cost, including the health and safety of American families.

On July 18, the topic was whether states should improve air quality on a schedule laid out in the Clean Air Act. St. Louis-area Republicans in the House all voted to push that question to 2025. We are talking about ground-level ozone or smog, which is well-known to be harmful to our health. Television weather forecasters tell us how bad the "air quality" is each evening, and the Missouri Department of Transportation puts signs on highways telling us to cut back on driving. Is that any way to solve this problem? Is our health less important than the profit for polluters?

When the Democrats in the House tried to add an amendment to that bill that would keep the current standards schedule in place if evidence could be shown that dirty air is harmful to outdoor workers, children and senior citizens, all the St. Louis-area Republicans nixed that amendment. Kudos to Rep. William Lacy Clay for putting the health of area families above corporate greed.

Steve Reed Manchester

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Republicans value profit over the health of American families - STLtoday.com

Republicans inability and unwillingness to pass legislation that benefits working- and middle-class voters may send voters scurrying back to the Democratic Party. At least thats what Democrats hope, and recent polling indicates they have reason for optimism.

According to a Harvard-Harris poll, 52 percent of voters trust Democrats to provide the best way forward on healthcare. Twenty-seven percent said they trust President Trump and only 21 percent said they trust Republicans in Congress, bringing the total GOP figure to 48 percent. Republicans however have made voters realize the positive aspects of Obamacare. (53 percent said they believe ObamaCare is working, rather than failing. Congress as a whole remains unpopular, but 67 percent of the respondents give the GOPa negative rating while only 59 percent disapprove of Democrats.

The extended debate on health care, I would suggest, makes things even more dicey for Republicans. The substance of the bill (e.g., slash Medicaid) certainly has alarmed voters, but additionally, there are at least two possible consequences for Republicans.

First, Republicans continue to chew up the clock, making it that much more difficult to meet deadlines for the budget and debt ceiling. The window of opportunity for tax reform is also closing fast. In short, the Republicans may wind up being tagged as both incompetent and malevolent.

Second, whether or not Republicans pass a bill, we see, on one hand, a unified Democratic Party and, on the other, Republicans attacking Republicans. President Trump lashed out at Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of two Republicans who voted against the motion to proceed. Trump claimed Murkowski really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Murkowski shot back: Every day shouldnt be about winning elections. How about just doing a little bit of governing around here. Thats what Im here for. Moderate Republicans will applaud her push back while bemoaning the cavalier attitude of right-wing Republicans who seem to have no concern for the substance of what they are trying to pass. Right-wing voices in the conservative echo chamber are already excoriating moderates for repelling efforts to slash Medicaid and deliver tax cuts for the rich. In other words, Trump and the health-care debacle are underscoring the divide in the GOP between the anti-government right-wingers and moderate reform-minded Republicans. Candidates in competitive seats will need both in the 2018 midterm elections.

Moreover, Trumps effort to revive the culture wars has further divided the party and runs the risk of cementing the GOPs image as the party of intolerant white men. The Post reports on the votes of two Virginia Republicans on a measure to stop the military from paying for gender transitionsurgery and hormone therapy. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) of Northern Virginiawas among the 24 Republicanswho joined all Democrats in voting against the amendment. . . .Rep. Scott W. Taylor (R), a freshman from Virginia Beach, voted for the amendment, despite a record of supporting LGBT causes through legislation. Comstock may wind up being tarred by the sentiments of others in her party and losing the support of her more conservative constituents. Taylor meanwhile will be lambasted as a pawn of the far right. To be blunt, its a no-win issue for a party whose popularity is already under water.

In sum, the party that holds the White House almost always loses House seats in the first midterm. In the case of Trump Republicans, however, the endless fight over health care, the absence of other legislative achievements and the introduction of lose-lose social issues will make it that much more difficult for the GOP to keep its majority. In the RealClearPolitics average in generic congressional polling Democrats already have a nine-point lead. Republicans should worry that by Election Day 2018 the deficit will be in double digits.

Link:
Who's going to trust Republicans after this fiasco? - Washington Post

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks through the Capitol on Thursday. Drew Angerer / Getty Images

In the rushed process of trying to come up with legislation, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released an analysis even later on Thursday night. Republicans only released the part of the score that analyzed only the impact on the deficit. Shortly afterward, Democrats and the CBO released the rest of the analysis, which found that 16 million people would lose their health insurance in 2018. Premiums would rise 20 percent each year over the next decade, the analysis found.

It's still unclear if Republicans have the 50 votes they need to pass it. A late-night concession from House Speaker Paul Ryan, promising to enter into negotiations with the Senate to produce a beefed-up version of a health care bill, secured the votes of many Republicans.

"If moving forward requires a conference committee, that is something the House is willing to do," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. "The reality, however, is that repealing and replacing Obamacare still ultimately requires the Senate to produce 51 votes for an actual plan."

Ryan's wobbly statement about a conference committee, however, didn't convince everyone. He spoke on the phone with more than half a dozen senators over the phone later in the evening, giving them his "assurances" that the House would enter into a conference committee. His statement, however, indicated that if an agreement is reached in House and Senate negotiations, the Senate would vote on it first.

But holdouts remain, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and John McCain, R-Ariz., both of whom have been critical of the secretive process. The positions of Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are unknown.

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Republicans can only afford to lose the support of two Republicans in order for it to pass. Vice President Mike Pence is prepared to be the tie-breaking vote.

The vote is expected to take place at some point late into the night or early morning, in whats been called a "Vote-a-Rama," where senators will vote consecutively on as many amendments as they want.

The skinny repeal is far from Republicans campaign promise of also rolling back Medicaid expansion, insurance subsidies, taxes, and insurance regulations.

Over the past two days, Republicans rejected a plan that would have partially repealed and replaced Obamacare and a measure that would have just repealed it. The repeal vote was the same bill that passed the Senate and the House in 2015 when former President Barack Obama vetoed it.

"It was deeply disappointing to see those six Republicans who voted for repeal in 2015 to turn around and vote against it last night," said Tim Phillips, head of the Charles and David Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity.

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Republicans Release 'Skinny' Obamacare-Repeal Bill - NBCNews.com