Archive for the ‘Republicans’ Category

Republicans Land a Punch on Health Care, to Their Own Face – New York Times


New York Times
Republicans Land a Punch on Health Care, to Their Own Face
New York Times
Since the Tea Party wave of 2010 that swept House Republicans into power, a raucous, intransigent and loosely aligned group of lawmakers known as the Freedom Caucus most from heavily Republican districts has often landed a punch to its own ...

and more »

Read the rest here:
Republicans Land a Punch on Health Care, to Their Own Face - New York Times

Lindsey Graham on health care: Republicans and Democrats need to work together – CNN International

"I don't think that one party's going to be able to fix this by themselves," the South Carolina Republican said Saturday at a town hall event. "I think the President should reach out to Democrats, I should reach out to Democrats, and we should say, 'Let's take a shot at doing this together because it ain't working doing it by ourselves.'"

After Republicans were forced to pull their bill to replace Obamacare from the floor of the GOP-controlled House on Friday, Trump blamed Democrats and vowed to let Obamacare "explode."

"We had no Democrat support. We had no votes from the Democrats," Trump said. "They weren't going to give us a single vote, so it's a very, very difficult thing to do. I think the losers are (House Minority Leader) Nancy Pelosi and (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer because now they own Obamacare. 100% own it."

Graham has been a frequent critic of the Affordable Care Act and reinforced that Saturday.

"Here's what I think about health care: Obamacare is a disaster and it's going to collapse," he said at the Columbia, South Carolina, event, drawing boos from the crowd.

But the long-serving senator said the Trump administration is going to have to learn to work with Democrats if it wants to implement its vision for this country.

"At my core, I'm a fiscal and social conservative, but here's what I believe -- I can't run the country by myself, and we have to work together," he said. "If you want to save this country from becoming Greece, you need Republicans and Democrats to work together to reform entitlement programs before it's too late."

Sen. Bob Corker, a member of the Budget Committee, made a similar point Friday.

"At some point, on behalf of the American people, we have to resolve the issues that are driving up costs, limiting choices, and causing the individual market to spiral downward," the Tennessee Republican said. "I stand ready to work with the administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in order to fix our broken health care system."

Graham, who has long called for an investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, also said Saturday that politicians should not hamper that investigation.

"We've learned that the FBI is investigating Trump campaign operatives for potential ties to Russia," he said. "Here's my belief: It goes where it goes. No politicians should stand in the way. We should let the FBI do their job. And what happens happens."

On Friday, House Intelligence Committee member Jim Himes accused California Rep. Devin Nunes of persistently serving "the interests of Donald Trump" as chairman of the committee, which is probing alleged ties between Trump associates and Russia.

"Devin, as much as I appreciate him and consider him a friend, has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he often serves the interests of Donald Trump," the Connecticut Democrat told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day." "Once again, we were shown why this should be done by an outside commission."

See the original post:
Lindsey Graham on health care: Republicans and Democrats need to work together - CNN International

House Republicans Search for Votes to Repeal Obamacare – New York Times


MarketWatch
House Republicans Search for Votes to Repeal Obamacare
New York Times
WASHINGTON House Republicans were set to meet Thursday morning to see if consensus and votes could be found for their shifting bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as conservative Republicans pushed to eliminate federal requirements that ...
After dramatic day, GOP fails to reach health care dealCNN
The GOP Health Care Bill Is Unpopular Even In Republican DistrictsFiveThirtyEight
Koch-backed network vows to fund Republicans who reject health billMarketWatch
The Week Magazine -Washington Post -NBCNews.com -Congressional Budget Office
all 3,733 news articles »

Here is the original post:
House Republicans Search for Votes to Repeal Obamacare - New York Times

House Republicans, Deeply Divided, Face Painful Choice on Health Vote – New York Times


New York Times
House Republicans, Deeply Divided, Face Painful Choice on Health Vote
New York Times
WASHINGTON For the House Republicans who have never served under a Republican president roughly two-thirds of them the vote scheduled for Thursday on a measure to replace President Barack Obama's health care law is a legislative fantasia, ...
House Republicans May Have Saved Trumpcare by Making It Even CruelerNew York Magazine
Republican Health Care Vote: Everything You Need to KnowNBCNews.com
The 7 kinds of Republicans who could lose their jobs over health carePolitico
CNN -Chicago Tribune -RealClearPolitics
all 1,402 news articles »

See the rest here:
House Republicans, Deeply Divided, Face Painful Choice on Health Vote - New York Times

Texas Republicans divided as health care overhaul hangs in the balance – Texas Tribune

WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas had a long day Wednesday.

He set off a mild firestorm early in the morning in a CNN interview when he conceded his party needed to do a better job selling its replacement to President Obama's 2010health care overhaul and promised Americans they would be able to keep their current insurance plan and doctors. But those remarks were largely forgotten just hours later amid the continuing chaos surrounding the run-up toward a Thursday vote in the U.S. House.By nightfall, Sessions found himself sparring with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over repeal in a marathon meeting of the House Rules Committee, which he chairs.

In the dawn-to-dusk fight over repealing the law that served as a central campaign issue for Republicans over the past four election cycles, Pelosi's troops were in lockstep behind her all House Democrats oppose repeal.Instead, the fight is among Republicans; allies of House leadership are trying to pass the bill, while hardline conservatives, many of whom are members of a group called the Freedom Caucus, are trying to stymie it.

Many in Congress including at least one Texas Republican House member who asked not to be named predict that if the bill reaches the House floor Thursday, it will fail. Sources tell the Tribune that heading into Thursday, House leaders were working with a deficit of about five votes.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The fight consumed both the White House and the House of Representatives all day Wednesday. President Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan used every carrot and stick at their disposal to convince Republicans to fall in line with their proposal. Some Republicans suggested the vote could go down to the wire, all the way to the House floor for the kind of in-the-moment arm-twisting that made former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay famous in his day.

As of Wednesday evening, 16 House Republicans from Texas backed the bill, three opposed it and six were either undecided or unclear in their positions.U.S. Rep. Randy Weber of Friendswood, a Freedom Caucus member, announced his opposition to the bill late Wednesday.

The most stunning moment among Texas Republicans came at the hand of a member of the party's House leadership,Homeland Security Committee ChairmanMichael McCaul, who pulled his support for the bill and announced he was undecided.

All the drama in the House may be leading to an anticlimax in the Senate even if the plan passes in its current form, hardly anyone thinks the bill will make it through the upper chamber.Many Republicans doubt repeal will even become law.

The political fallout of failure in the House could set off a conflagration between the two factions of the House GOP, including in Texas. Tea Party types say they are licking their chops to take out Republican incumbents in primaries with charges of selling out in support of "Obamacare lite."

Meanwhile, those in the Republican establishment say they will charge rebels who might fight the bill into failure as essentially siding with Democrats to maintain the status quo of a law the entire party spent seven years campaigning against.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The countdown to a vote has raised several questions, the most prominent of which is: What happens if the bill fails?

The anonymous Texas House Republican forecasted political catastrophe:"I don't know what happens then."

Read more:

Meet Paige: Our new Facebook Messenger bot helps you keep track of the 85th Legislature. Subscribe by messaging HELLO to m.me/texastribune.org. Learn more.

The rest is here:
Texas Republicans divided as health care overhaul hangs in the balance - Texas Tribune