Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) “signed into law a bill allowing adoption agencies in Alabama to follow faith-based policies, such as not placing children with gay couples,” the Birmingham News reports.
Archives for May 2017
Republicans Plan Health Care Vote Thursday
House Republican leaders said that they “plan to bring their controversial plan to revise key parts of the Affordable Care Act to a vote on Thursday, capping weeks of fits and starts in their attempt to fulfill a signature campaign promise,” the Washington Post reports.
“The flagging Republican effort to reshape the nation’s health-care system picked up steam Wednesday, as GOP leaders tried to address concerns about people with preexisting medical conditions. But independent analysts remained skeptical that the new proposal would fully address the needs of at-risk patients who receive coverage guarantees under the Affordable Care Act, underscoring the controversial nature of the Republican effort.”
Still No CBO Score
Sarah Kliff: “House Republicans are hurtling toward a vote on a bill that is disliked by most Americans, opposed by nearly every major health care group, and not yet scored by the Congressional Budget Office.”
“This is an unusual situation, and a puzzling one. Republicans are on the verge of voting for a health care bill without knowing how many people it covers or how much it would cost. They risk setting themselves up for embarrassment when the numbers actually do come out and don’t look good.”
Public Trust In Government Remains at Historic Lows
A new Pew Research poll finds that the overall level of trust in government remains near historic lows; just 20% say they trust the government to do what’s right always or most of the time.
Far more say they trust the government only some of the time (68%); 11% volunteer that they never trust the government to do what’s right.
Lawmakers Plot to Oust Tuesday Group Leader
“Some members of the Tuesday Group of House Republican moderates are plotting to oust co-chairman Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) from his post amid frustration that he negotiated a deal on the Obamacare replacement bill with the conservative Freedom Caucus,” The Hill reports.
Said one lawmaker: “There is dissension in the ranks.”
Two Lawmakers Flip Back to Support GOP Health Care Bill
Politico: “Two prominent Republican opponents of the House GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill reversed course and backed the measure Wednesday morning, after negotiating a last-minute amendment with President Donald Trump at the White House. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Billy Long (R-MO) emerged from their session with the president and said that an amendment to add $8 billion to help cover people with preexisting conditions would return them to the ‘yes’ column on the bill.”
David Nather: “Upton’s proposed changes to the GOP health care bill won’t be nearly enough to shield moderate Republicans from criticism that they’re abandoning sick people.”
The Hill finds 20 GOP lawmakers against the bill with 54 still undecided or unclear.
For members: Democrats ‘Win’ Either Way
Axelrod Says Clinton Puts Too Much Blame on Comey
David Axelrod said that although Hillary Clinton has a “legitimate beef” with FBI Director James Comey, Comey is not responsible for the mistakes of her campaign, Politico reports.
Said Axelrod: “Jim Comey didn’t tell her not to campaign in Wisconsin after the convention. Jim Comey didn’t say ‘don’t put any resources into Michigan until the final week of the campaign.'”
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Trump Hires Official Accused of Sexual Assault
“A political appointee hired by the Trump administration for a significant State Department role was accused of multiple sexual assaults as a student several years ago at The Citadel military college,” ProPublica reports.
“Steven Munoz was hired by the Trump administration as assistant chief of visits, running an office of up to 10 staffers charged with the sensitive work of organizing visits of foreign heads of state to the U.S. that includes arranging meetings with the president.”
“At The Citadel, five male freshmen alleged that Munoz used his positions as an upperclassman, class president and head of the campus Republican Society to grope them. In one incident, a student reported waking up with Munoz on top of him, kissing him and grabbing his genitals. In another, on a trip to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., a student said that Munoz jumped on him in bed and he ‘felt jerking and bouncing on my back.'”
Democrats Make Big Investment In Montana
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is investing an additional $400,000 in Rob Quist’s (D) campaign to fill the Montana congressional seat left vacant when former Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) was sworn in as the interior secretary, the HuffPost reports.
“The new donation brings the DCCC’s total investment in Quist to $600,000. On April 20, the DCCC invested $200,000 in the folk singer, which was used to buy political ads for Quist’s campaign. According to Kelly, the additional money will be invested in a program aimed at getting likely independent and Democratic voters to vote by mail, which accounts for approximately 60 percent of Montana’s voters, as well as to buy more TV ads.”
Comey Defends Handling of Clinton Investigation
FBI Director James Comey defended his decision to alert Congress about a reopened investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email use less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, saying he still believed it was the right choice, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Comey acknowledged it made him “mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election,” but said he was forced to choose between two bad options–to “speak” or “conceal.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports emails from Clinton containing classified information were forwarded to former congressman Anthony Weiner.
Rising Star
Coming soon: Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama by David Garrow.
Washington Post: “It is in the personal realm that Garrow’s account is particularly revealing. He shares for the first time the story of a woman Obama lived with and loved in Chicago, in the years before he met Michelle, and whom he asked to marry him. Sheila Miyoshi Jager, now a professor at Oberlin College, is a recurring presence in Rising Star … In Garrow’s telling, Obama made emotional judgments on political grounds. A close mutual friend of the couple recalls Obama explaining that ‘the lines are very clearly drawn. … If I am going out with a white woman, I have no standing here.’”
Democrats ‘Win’ Either Way
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Quote of the Day
“If I were the speaker of the House, and I’m not — and by the way I’m thankful that I’m not, it’s a miserable job — I’d probably go to the floor because it’s just that close.”
— Trump Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, quoted by Politico, on the Republican health care bill.
Trump Shattering Norms at a Dizzying Pace
First Read: “President Trump is still lacking his first major legislative achievement, and he had the rockiest first 100 days in modern times. But Trump has made this one significant change since taking office — he’s shattered more norms that would have shocked past presidents, Democrats or Republicans.”
“Now many of Trump supporters voted for him to smash these kinds of political norms. And he’s accomplished that. But imagine any other president, Republican or Democrat, extolling the need for a government shutdown, or using a football team from a service academy as a prop to score political points, or charging that the nation’s FBI director (who just happens to be investigating if Trump’s campaign had contacts with Russian entities) is conducting a ‘phony’ investigation. (How is that not obstruction of justice?) And that was just Tuesday. Yes, Trump is shattering norms. And too many of us are shrugging our shoulders.”
Pelosi Says Abortion Should Not Be Litmus Test
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the Washington Post that the Democratic Party should not impose support for abortion rights as a litmus test on its candidates.
Said Pelosi: “I grew up Nancy D’Alesandro, in Baltimore, Maryland; in Little Italy; in a very devout Catholic family; fiercely patriotic; proud of our town and heritage, and staunchly Democratic. Most of those people — my family, extended family — are not pro-choice. You think I’m kicking them out of the Democratic Party?”
House GOP Pushing for Thursday Vote on Health Care
“The House is about to give it one more try with the Republican health care bill. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) will introduce an amendment that would help protect people with pre-existing conditions, an attempt to bring moderate holdouts to the table,” Axios reports.
“Early Wednesday morning, well-placed sources in the White House and in the House Republican conference told us the momentum was driving towards a vote on Thursday. The White House has been more bullish all along, and senior House sources have been consistently exasperated at administration officials setting artificial deadlines.”
“Senior House lawmakers remain concerned about the potential for the new, more moderate, language to unnerve the ultra conservative House Freedom Caucus members.”
Hillary Clinton Will Launch a PAC
Hillary Clinton “soon will launch a PAC as a way of ‘acting as a quiet catalyst’ for organizations she cares about, and eventually will help 2018 congressional candidates — but with no intention of making it a vehicle to run for anything herself,” Mike Allen reports.
“According to a source familiar with the planning, the initial focus will be on lifting up organizations that are the product of the energy and activism she has seen since the election, and existing groups that have been reignited and reinvigorated by that energy. She has met with some of these groups, and it’s something she’s become increasingly passionate about with each meeting.”
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