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By Terry McAuliffe By Terry McAuliffe March 31 at 12:22 PM

Republicans in Richmond have a choice to make. They can choose to stand up for health and opportunity for their constituents and a stronger Virginia economy, or they can allow divisive partisan politics to continue to hurt their commonwealth.

For the past 3 years, Virginia has been engaged in a discussion about joining the 31 states that accepted federal funding to expand Medicaid and offer more citizens access to quality health care.

If you are a taxpayer in Virginia, Republicans in Richmond have so far blocked your federal tax dollars from coming home, even as you have been paying for Medicaid expansion in West Virginia, Maryland and the District. They have offered a range of excuses, which, as the Affordable Care Act has been implemented, have all proved empty. The result is that Virginia has been prevented from reaping the benefits even as Virginians havent saved a dime in taxes.

Now, after President Trump and Republicans in Congress have failed to repeal the ACA and demonstrated clearly that Medicaid expansion will continue to benefit the states that accept it, the time for excuses is over.

On Wednesday, Republicans in Richmond will consider a budget proposal I have submitted to expand Virginias Medicaid program. Accepting it would be a victory for Virginias families, economy and health-care system.

If Republicans accept my amendment, we can expand health-care coverage to as many as 400,000 Virginians who are just one accident or illness away from financial ruin or death.

We can create 30,000 jobs.

We can save our state budget more than $73 million per year.

We can invest nearly $300 million to improve Virginias behavioral-health system and combat the opioid epidemic that is ravaging communities all over the country.

And we can throw a lifeline to hospitals, particularly in rural communities, that are struggling to stay afloat because of declining federal support for offsetting the care they offer to patients who cant afford to pay.

These benefits are awaiting Virginia if we expand Medicaid. In fact, we already are paying for them. Since the ACA became law, Virginia taxpayers have left more than $10 billion on the table that could have been spent covering our friends and neighbors and creating jobs. Every day we wait, we waste another $6.6 million.

Virginia Republicans have offered a litany of excuses for not accepting these benefits. First there was the concern that the commonwealth could not afford the 10 percent portion of the cost of expansion in order to get the federal government to cover the other 90 percent. That concern was alleviated when Virginias hospitals offered to cover the states share allowing them (and Virginia taxpayers) to bring the benefits of expansion home with zero risk or obligation to the commonwealths budget.

Then Republicans fretted that leaders in Washington would repeal or change the plan in a way that would put Virginia at risk. Trump, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and the Republican-majority Congress eliminated that concern when they wrote a health-care bill that did not do away with the expansion and then failed to pass anything at all, preserving the program in its entirety.

Even if these excuses were grounded in reality, they would not justify denying 400,000 Virginians access to lifesaving care for which they are already footing the bill. Some of the most conservative governors in the country, including Vice President Pence when he was governor of Indiana and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), expanded Medicaid because it was the right thing to do. In the wake of last weeks failure with a replacement health-care bill, other conservative states are also moving in that direction.

If Virginia Republicans continue to obstruct progress on this important issue, it should be clear to their constituents that they are motivated solely by tea-party politics, not sound public policy. Virginians who lack access to health care are waiting. Families and communities coping with our mental-health and opioid crises are waiting. Virginia hospitals and health-care providers struggling with their bottom lines are waiting.

On Wednesday, Virginia Republicans can end the wait, put political excuses aside and bring billions of our own taxpayer dollars home to save lives, create jobs and make our commonwealth stronger.

The writer, a Democrat, is the governor of Virginia.

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Terry McAuliffe: Republicans are out of excuses on Medicaid expansion - Washington Post

J. Scott Applewhite, The Associated Press

Re: No repeal for Obamacare a humiliating defeat for Trump, March 24 news story.

For seven years, the Republican Party talked about repealing Obamacare but never developed an alternative plan. Likewise, seven years ago, the Democratic Party sold Obamacare to the public on false pretenses. Itis harming the public and getting ready to self-destruct, and the Democrats have done nothing to fix the problems. Both Republicans and Democrats with their selfish desires and political motivations have failed the American people. The problems with our health care system, including Obamacare, have always been in the hands of Congress, and not the president. If Obamacare was the mandated health plan of members of Congress, the current mess would not exist, as theywould put aside theirpartisan issues and take care of themselves first, which in turn would benefit the American people. We need a universal health plan that includes everyone and treats them equally.

Garry Wolff, Denver

It may be nave, but Id like to believe that the American Health Care Act bill failed because it was a bad idea and the American people knew it. Ultimately our representatives in Congress felt this pressure and, in this case anyway, reflected the will of the people. If the AHCA is the best Republicans could come up with, then it went down to a well-deserved defeat.

With this failure of ideas, it is incumbent that Republicans now accept what the American people already know: the current system (yes, Obamacare) is working. President Donald Trump, cruelly, hopes for Obamacare to explode. But how does Sen. CoryGardner feel? He dodged a bullet by not having to commit, pro or con, to the AHCA. Will he now commit to all the people of Colorado by helping make sure our current health care system works even better in the future?

William Pincus, Denver

House Republicans did not fail their constituents regarding their effort to fix the disastrous Obamacare law they did exactlywhat our representatives are supposed to do. They read every word, every semicolon. They debated, and argued, and negotiated every provision of the bill. Unlike Democrats, the Republican Party does not speak with one voice. There are different groups, different political theologies, and quite different creative approaches that Republicans bring to problem-solving all in the interests of those they represent. That is precisely the way democracy is supposed to work.

The great Republican victoryin the current bills failure is that they showed, rather dramatically, they will not make new law unless it benefits every American and is financially efficient. There will be another Republican attempt to fix Obamacare. It will be met with the same rigorous, all-night debate and negotiation. And we will all be better for it.

M.V. Loucks, Cherry Hills Village

I am thrilled that the health care bill was pulled from a vote. Now I urge Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner to work to improve the Affordable Care Actin a non-partisan, cooperative way. To expand Medicaid. To encourage insurers to join the marketplace. And to improve access to mental health services, particularly for children.

If our representatives are reading this, I urge you to remember that every single one of your constituents deserves health care including those who are poor, disabled, elderly, pregnant or in need of mental health services. If a plan isnt good enough for your own family, dont try to pass it on to the public. Remember that you are in office to serve your constituents. Your job is to work together to solve problems for the public good, not find ways to give tax breaks to billionaires and strip services from the most vulnerable.

Sherry Knecht, Littleton

President Donald Trump said that the best thing is to let Obamacare explode after the Republicans failed to get enough votes in the House to repeal it. This is leadership? To hope that the program that has allowed 20 million Americans to have access to basic health care fails? The Republican leadership has worked for years to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Why? So they can replace it with a law that cuts Medicaid for the poor and use the savings for tax cuts to the rich? If the ACAhas problems, please give a detailed listing of what they are and how you plan on fixing them. Show some leadership, Republicans, and stand up for the American people instead of corporate interests.

Edward Dranginis, Centennial

Thank you to Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives who stood together to protect health care for Coloradans and all Americans.

President Donald Trumpnow says Democrats own Obamacare. Yes, and proudly so. There was not oneRepublican vote to pass Obamacare in 2010, so it has always been owned by Democrats. Imperfect though it is, at least we know that millions of our friends, family and fellow citizens still have Obamacare and the precious health care that it provides.

And to the many citizens who valiantly called, wrote and showed up to testify to the life-saving value of Obamacare through demonstrations and town halls, an enormous thank you. Without you, we would not have succeeded in protecting our health care.

But please know that all of us must remain vigilant to continue to protect the health care we have.

Vicky Henry, Estes Park

In his postmortem comments on the failure of the GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Speaker Paul Ryan said it was the result of his members desire for the perfect and the perfect being the enemy of the good, or very good. The problem was, their plan was not even in the same time zone as the good, or very good.

Its time the GOP return from their outpost on the far-far-right of the political spectrum and admit to their constituents that the ACA is, in fact, a conservative approach to health care. A liberal plan would have been single-payer, a system that most FirstWorld economies have proven provides health care at lower cost and with better results. But the ACA was based on plan from a conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, put in place as a test by a Republican governor, and is still a market-based insurance coverage system.

Come on, GOP, come back to your ownhealth care plan, admit youve been playing politics for eightyears, and lets fix the current act to make it better, rather than create a catastrophic solution, which will only make things worse.

Martin Ward, Littleton

In my imaginary world, Republicans and Democrats would do the unthinkable and get together by defining the Affordable Care Actas stage one of health care and then progress to repairing some of its shortcomings. For example, a good starting point would be to consider incentives for insurers to cover low population-density areas and to reduce the impact on small businesses, which have widespread bipartisan support. In the process, both Congress and the White House would also significantly enhance their sagging popularity ratings. But dream on.

Vic Viola, Golden

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Republicans' decision to pull the American Health Care Act (8 letters) - The Denver Post

The moves come three weeks before a special election to replace former Republican Rep. Tom Price, who Trump tapped as secretary of Health and Human Services.

The National Republican Congressional Committee -- the House GOP's campaign arm -- is launching cable television, radio and digital ads and is placing five field staffers into the district next week, according to a GOP operative familiar with the efforts.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, already has six staffers on the ground, and plans to increase that to 15 before the April 18 contest, the Republican operative said. The RNC has opened one field office in the district and soon plans to open a second.

The efforts are all geared toward increasing Republican turnout -- rather than supporting any one of the 11 GOP candidates in the 18-person field.

It comes ahead of a jungle primary: All 18 candidates will be on the ballot April 18. If one tops 50% of the vote, that candidate is the winner. But if none do, the top two finishers will advance to a June 20 runoff.

The 30-year-old Ossoff -- a former staffer for Rep. Hank Johnson and a documentary filmmaker -- has consolidated Democratic support and is buoyed by an active regional anti-Trump grassroots effort, and has more than $4 million in the bank thanks in part to the endorsement of the liberal blog Daily Kos.

That's left Republicans fretting about whether an enthusiasm gap between the parties could allow Ossoff to eclipse 50% in the jungle primary.

The NRCC's independent expenditure arm, which cannot coordinate with the committee, is also expected to spend on TV ads. And the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC is already spending $2.2 million on ads attacking Ossoff.

Stoking GOP fears is the district's big swing left in the 2016 presidential election.

The district, which favored Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama by 23 points in 2012, went for Trump over Hillary Clinton by just 2 points in 2016. Reliably red Cobb County backed Clinton, the first time it had supported a Democratic presidential candidate since former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter was on the ballot.

Georgia's 6th District is wealthier and more highly educated than the Atlanta area and the state overall. It also includes relatively large numbers of Hispanic, Asian and foreign-born residents.

Democrats hope the special election will be a positive omen for similar contests in the 2018 midterms in places like the Texas suburbs, Orange County, California, and near Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The special election is one of four to replace House Republicans who Trump tapped for Cabinet posts -- and is the most likely to change hands. Democrats also hope to compete in a Montana race to replace former Rep. Ryan Zinke, now Trump's Interior secretary.

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Republicans hit the airwaves in Georgia to save House seat - CNN

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

US Senator Johnny Isakson, who was recovering from back surgery, is wheeled away from the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday.

WASHINGTON Senate Republicans on Thursday continued to roll back Obama-era regulations, approving a bill that restores the right of states to starve local Planned Parenthood chapters of federal funds.

But it wasnt easy, as they took extraordinary measures to pass the bill when yet another fissure opened up in GOP ranks.

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To notch the victory on a key ideological goal of Christian conservatives, GOP leaders had to summon a cavalry consisting of Vice President Mike Pence and a senator who had been at home in Georgia recuperating after spinal surgery.

Pence cast a rare tie-breaking vote not once, but twice, to get the family planning measure across the congressional finish line and onto President Trumps desk for an expected signature. Far from a resounding legislative victory, Thursdays passage of the Planned Parenthood bill revealed just how fragile the Republicans Senate majority really is.

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Daily updates and analysis on national politics from James Pindell.

Two of the five women in the Senate GOP caucus Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted no on the procedural motion, joining a united Democratic caucus and imperiling the bill.

The measure would undo a rule preventing states from blocking funding for family planning clinics that also provide abortions.

The Republicans needed 51 votes to clear the procedural hurdle. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell held the vote open for an hour Thursday morning, as he waited for Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, flying in Thursday from his home state of Georgia, to land and rush over from the airport.

Recovering from two back surgeries, the most recent performed on March 15, Isakson had gotten clearance from his doctor to return to Washington Thursday for one day only, said a spokeswoman. He used a walker to navigate the Senate floor. Elsewhere, he was seen being pushed in a wheelchair by an aide.

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Then Pence swept in, with a smile, as he cast the needed 51st vote to push the bill forward. It was the second time Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, cast the deciding vote in barely two months. For comparison, former vice president Joe Biden never cast a tie-breaking vote.

By 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Pence had cast a third. The bill was approved on final passage, again by a vote of 51-to-50.

The showdown highlights that the GOP call to strip funding from Planned Parenthood is not a political slam dunk for every member of the party.

I dont think that we should be doing anything to be backtracking on access to health care for women, said Murkowski after the final vote.

Collins was even more blunt. If youre serious about trying to reduce the number of abortions, the best way to do that is to make family planning more widely available, she said after casting her final no vote against the bills passage.

Theres already a law on the books that bans any federal tax dollars from going to fund abortions at Planned Parenthood or any health care provider. Beyond that existing law, Collins said, I personally believe that it is not appropriate to put restrictions on the use of family planning money.

At issue Thursday was so-called Title X family planning funding that goes to clinics to provide low-income and uninsured women with contraception, fertility services, cervical cancer treatment, and screenings for sexually transmitted disease.

The legislation passed by the Senate enables states to revive policies diverting those federal funds from Planned Parenthood clinics, or to enact new restrictions. Conservatives argue that no taxpayer money should go to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood for any services.

Both Murkowski and Collins hail from states with large rural populations, where Planned Parenthood is sometimes the only provider of womens health services, supporters say.

Republicans supporting rolling back the Title X regulation cast it as an issue of states rights, though no GOP senators rose to defend the measure during the block of debate time.

I just cant believe theyre doing this, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a brief interview after the vote. She said the impact on Massachusetts is likely to be nonexistent because she doesnt think state lawmakers will move to block funds from Planned Parenthood or other providers, but it will hurt people in other parts of the country.

After the final vote, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, lead author of the Senate repeal measure, said if Washington and Massachusetts want to continue giving federal funding to Planned Parenthood in their states, theyre free to do so. The rollback merely empowers states over a Washington knows best mentality, she said.

Senate Democrats took full advantage of the opportunity to portray Republicans as going to great lengths to hold together a vote that would prevent women from getting essential health care services.

Amazing what GOP leaders will do to make sure womens health centers dont get funded, tweeted New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a possible 2020 Democratic presidential contender

Today as a woman I am angry, Washington Senator Patty Murray, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, said on the floor. She warned that Republicans who vote against women and with their extreme base today ... will be held accountable.

Conservatives have been champing at the bit to gut funding for Planned Parenthood now that Republicans control all the levers of power in Washington. They secured changes to the House GOP health bill that would have yanked funding from Planned Parenthood for a year, before that health bill went down in flames.

GOP leaders needed just a simple majority on both votes for the family planning bill as opposed to the usual 60 needed to clear a filibuster because they were acting under an obscure law called the Congressional Review Act. It gets around a filibuster but can only be used to repeal regulations issued in the last several months of a previous administration.

Now that they have a GOP president in the White House, congressional Republicans have effectively killed off seven regulations with the CRA, including regulations keeping coal companies from dumping waste into streams and waterways and a rule requiring the Social Security Administration to report to the federal firearms background check system when some beneficiaries have been deemed mentally impaired.

Using the CRA, Congress this week sent Trump a resolution overturning an internet privacy rule that bars Verizon, Comcast, and other providers from selling users browser history without their permission.

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Senate Republicans scramble to muster votes targeting Planned Parenthood - The Boston Globe

President Trump has lashed out at the conservative House Freedom Caucus for its role in bringing down the GOP health care bill, while House Speaker Paul Ryan is urging the party to work together. Getty Images hide caption

President Trump has lashed out at the conservative House Freedom Caucus for its role in bringing down the GOP health care bill, while House Speaker Paul Ryan is urging the party to work together.

President Trump escalated a Twitter war with lawmakers in his own party on Thursday evening, calling out three members of the Freedom Caucus by name.

"If @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform," he tweeted.

The attack follows an earlier 140-character missive aimed at both the Freedom Caucus and Democrats. It's a curious tactic, given that Trump's only two options to pass his agenda through Congress are to either unite the fractured GOP or to form new alliances across the aisle.

"The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!" Trump tweeted on Thursday morning.

It did not change hearts or minds.

"Freedom Caucus stood with u when others ran. Remember who your real friends are. We're trying to help u succeed," replied Rep. Ral Labrador, R-Idaho, a member of the group of conservatives who helped take down the GOP health care bill.

The public and personal feuding among Republicans percolated throughout the U.S. Capitol this week as GOP confidence in their party's ability to govern alongside the Trump administration is shaken.

"It's clear that tensions are running high," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "I believe we can come together, and the only way for us to govern and deliver on our promises is for Republicans not to turn the cannons on each other, but stand united behind shared principles, and that's what I hope all of us do."

The White House has provoked congressional Republicans further in recent days by suggesting he'll just go around them and cut deals with Democrats instead.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., tried to head off any potential alliance, telling CBS: "I don't want that to happen." Ryan's reasoning correctly is that if the president needs Democrats to pass major legislation, it will be a lot less conservative than anything the speaker hopes to enact in the next two years.

Ryan was more conciliatory toward the president than Labrador.

"This is a can-do president, who's a business guy, who wants to get things done, and I know that he wants to get things done with a Republican Congress," Ryan told CBS. "But if this Republican Congress allows the perfect to be the enemy of the good, I worry we'll push the president into working with the Democrats. He's suggested as much."

Across the Capitol, Ryan's argument did not impress at least one prominent fellow Republican. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn. called out Ryan, again on Twitter: "We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president NOT to work with the other party to solve a problem."

House Republicans' health care failure has left Senate Republicans wondering if they need to shoulder more of the legislative burden. In that event, Democrats will be integral to the process because of the 60-vote hurdle to do most of the legislating in the Senate.

For their part, Democrats say they are ready if not exactly excited to work with the president. "We say, 'any time, anywhere,' " House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters on Thursday. "We never stand in the way of anyone meeting with a Democratic or a Republican president."

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., chairs the New Democrat Coalition, a faction of about four dozen business-friendly Democrats that, in theory, stand ready to work with the president on certain agenda items, like infrastructure spending. But Himes hasn't heard from the president. "No, the White House has not reached out," he said. "We're totally willing to engage in that, provided that it's consistent with our values."

Himes also said the burden to extend the olive branch rests on the other side of the aisle. "Look, these guys run the show now. They've got the Oval Office, they've got the Senate and the House. If they're interesting in having our support, it's kind of on them to come to us."

At least in the short term, Republicans have decided they need to work with Democrats to keep the government open. The federal government faces a shutdown on April 28 unless Congress enacts another stopgap spending bill or passes the remaining annual spending bills.

Seeking to head off another shutdown fight, GOP leaders and the appropriations committees are working behind the scenes on a bill to enact the remaining 11 spending bills at previously agreed to spending levels that conservatives opposed in the past. They are also looking to separate out the president's funding request to start building a U.S.-Mexico border wall, and the speaker has indicated Republicans will not add in "poison pill" policy riders on things like defunding Planned Parenthood.

All of those concessions are intended to bring Democrats on board to make sure Congress can pass the legislation. The end result is a less conservative vision of how Congress should spend the nation's money. If it works, it might also provide a framework for how this Congress will work going forward.

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Republicans 'Turn The Cannons On Each Other' In Week Of Public Feuding - NPR