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Insurers Say Cruz Proposal Is ‘Unworkable’

July 15, 2017 at 7:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Nather: “Two major health insurance trade groups launched an unusually direct attack on Sen. Ted Cruz’s insurance deregulation proposal tonight, warning Senate Republicans that it would damage the protections for people with pre-existing conditions — the one thing they promised not to do in repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.”

From the letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “It is simply unworkable in any form and would undermine protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions, increase premiums and lead to widespread terminations of coverage for people currently enrolled in the individual market.”

Trump Revives Banter with Reporters

July 15, 2017 at 7:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “The president had taken off his tie but kept on his jacket — a wardrobe change that for him qualifies as casual Friday — and he was in a happy-hour frame of mind. Expansive, engaging, even at times ebullient, Mr. Trump held forth for an hour, addressing reporters by name and alighting on topics as different as Chinese history and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.”

“It was a loose, good-humored side of Mr. Trump that the public rarely sees amid the fusillade of angry speeches and venomous tweets that have characterized the president’s first six months in the White House. And it came to light only because he retroactively put the session on the record, asking a reporter the next morning why she had not quoted his remarks.”

Governors from Both Parties Denounce Health Care Bill

July 15, 2017 at 7:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The nation’s governors, gathered here for their annual summer meeting, came out strongly on Friday against the new Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, turning up the pressure on Republican leaders struggling to round up the votes to pass the bill next week,” the New York Times reports.

“Opposition came not just from Democratic governors but from Republicans who split along familiar lines — conservatives who said the legislation did not go far enough and moderates who said it was far too harsh on their state’s vulnerable residents.”

Washington Post: White House launches aggressive push to flip GOP governors opposed to Senate health bill.

Trump Seeks to Expand Expedited Deportations

July 15, 2017 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration is weighing a new policy to dramatically expand the Department of Homeland Security’s powers to expedite the deportations of some illegal immigrants,” the Washington Post reports.

“Since 2004, the agency has been authorized to bypass immigration courts only for immigrants who had been living in the country illegally for less than two weeks and were apprehended within 100 miles of the border. Under the proposal, the agency would be empowered to seek the expedited removal of illegal immigrants apprehended anywhere in the United States who cannot prove they have lived in the country continuously for more than 90 days.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

July 14, 2017 at 6:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I wish that he would get them out of the way so that we could have a professional staff at the White House on policy issues.”

— Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX), in an interview with KBTX, saying that it would be in President Trump’s “best interest” if he “removed all of his children from the White House.”

Health Care Bill Is Alienating Some Trump Voters

July 14, 2017 at 6:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Vox/Survey Monkey poll finds 14% of Trump supporters now fear that the Senate health care bill will make them worse off.

“Those supporters are the most vulnerable part of Trump’s coalition. They have lost faith in Trump’s promise that he would replace Obamacare with something ‘much better,’ and they have less faith in the rest of his presidency too. Compared with their fellow Trump backers, they are more economically anxious, less confident in Trump’s economic policies, and more concerned about the Russia scandal and the administration’s possible ethical violations.”

Trump Family Values

July 14, 2017 at 5:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Remnick: “The Republicans, the self-proclaimed party of family values, remain squarely behind a family and a Presidency whose most salient features are amorality, greed, demagoguery, deception, vulgarity, race-baiting, misogyny, and, potentially—only time and further investigation will tell—a murky relationship with a hostile foreign government.”

“In the near term, if any wrongdoing is found, the Trump family member who stands to lose the most is the son-in-law and consigliere, Jared Kushner, who accompanied Donald, Jr., to the meeting with Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin. Kushner seems to see himself and his wife, Ivanka, as lonely voices of probity and moderation in an otherwise unhinged West Wing. Why they would believe this when their conflicts of interest are on an epic scale is a mystery. But such is their self-regard. It is said by those close to Kushner that, if he fears anything, it is to repeat the experience of his father, Charles, who, in 2005, pleaded guilty to charges of making illegal campaign contributions and hiring a prostitute to entrap his brother-in-law, and spent fourteen months in an Alabama penitentiary.”

“Meanwhile, as the Trump family consumes the nation’s attention with its colossal self-absorption and ethical delinquencies, the temperature keeps rising. “

More Than 3,000 Colorado Voters Cancel Registrations

July 14, 2017 at 5:17 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Nearly 3,400 Coloradans canceled their voter registrations in the wake of the Trump administration’s request for voter info, the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Thursday, providing the first statewide glimpse at the extent of the withdrawals,” the Denver Post reports.

“The 3,394 cancellations represent a vanishingly small percentage of the electorate — 0.09 percent of the state’s 3.7 million registered voters. But the figure is striking nonetheless, with some county election officials reporting that they’ve never seen anything quite like it in their careers.”

8 People Were In Trump Tower Russia Meeting

July 14, 2017 at 4:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort included at least eight people,” CNN reports.

“The revelation of additional participants comes as The Associated Press first reported Friday that a Russian-American lobbyist named Rinat Akhmetshin said he also attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr.”

“So far acknowledged in attendance: Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and publicist Rob Goldstone, who helped set up the meeting. A source familiar with the circumstances told CNN there were at least two other people in the room as well, a translator and a representative of the Russian family who had asked Goldstone to set up the meeting. The source did not provide the names.”

HuffPost: “One of the previously unidentified attendees was Anatoli Samochornov, a Russian-born American translator who previously spent years working for the U.S. government.”

GOP May Tie Debt Limit Increase to Veteran’s Bill

July 14, 2017 at 1:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans are considering tying a must-pass increase in the federal debt limit to funding for a program that lets military veterans get medical care outside of Veterans Affairs facilities,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The legislative move, still in the early stages of discussion on Capitol Hill, would let Republicans claim a policy victory while raising the federal borrowing cap.”

The Wasted Mind of Ben Sasse

July 14, 2017 at 1:11 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Slate: “Many politicians are hypocrites, of course. But most of them are also phonies and bullshitters. Ben Sasse isn’t. He stands out by educating himself earnestly and speaking honestly about complicated matters of history and policy… Unfortunately, he is also beginning to stand out by doing nothing of substance as the things he says he believes in are thrown in a garbage can by his own party.”

House GOP Weighs Massive Partisan Spending Bill

July 14, 2017 at 1:09 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“House GOP leaders will decide next week whether to brave an ugly floor fight over a massive GOP spending bill — a proposal applauded by some rank-and-file Republicans but that risks embarrassment if it fails,” Politico reports.

“In a closed-door GOP conference meeting Friday morning, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said all 12 appropriations bills will be finished in committee by the end of next week. Starting Monday, leadership will begin a tentative whip count on whether lawmakers would vote for a package before the August recess that combines all of those bills into one $1 trillion government funding bill.”

“Though the bill would never pass the Senate in the face of Democratic opposition, the process would allow House Republicans to offer potentially hundreds of amendments, an exercise that excites members who are frustrated that they’ve had no input on how to fund the government… The strategy could open something of a Pandora’s box, however. Lawmakers would be required to vote on controversial amendments that could be used against them in their districts, from provisions on the Confederate flag to gay rights proposals that put them in bind.”

Trump Hires Lawyer to Respond to Russia Probes

July 14, 2017 at 1:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump “plans to put a veteran Washington lawyer, Ty Cobb, in charge of overseeing the White House’s legal and media response to investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign,” Bloomberg reports.

“Top administration officials want someone to enforce discipline in the White House regarding Russia matters — and that includes the president, who frequently vents his frustrations about the investigations on Twitter.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

July 14, 2017 at 11:08 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“It’s almost embarrassing being an American citizen… and listening to the stupid shit we have to deal with in this country.”

— J.P. Morgan CEO Jaime Dimon, quoted by CNBC.

Quote of the Day

July 14, 2017 at 10:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“France is America’s first and oldest ally. A lot of people don’t know that.”

— President Trump, quoted by the Boston Globe.

Watch Trump’s Never-Ending Handshake with Macron

July 14, 2017 at 9:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Donald Trump’s saga of awkward handshakes continues,” CNN reports.

“On Friday, right before he left France, Trump said goodbye to France’s President Emmanuel Macron, with the two grabbing and holding hands for a long, long handshake. The entire handshake lasted about 25 seconds.”

When Politics Is a Game of Mutually Assured Destruction

July 14, 2017 at 9:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

It seems insane that the email received by Donald Trump Jr. offering dirt on Hillary Clinton was so explicit about the information being directly from the Russian government. Not only was the source mentioned explicitly in the email, it was in the email’s subject line.

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Trump the Salesman Isn’t Selling

July 14, 2017 at 9:18 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “The president has treated health care and a host of other legislative agenda items, from taxes to infrastructure, as issues to be hammered out by lawmakers with often-scant direction from the executive branch — and with decidedly mixed signals from Trump himself.”

“Trump’s sporadic salesmanship on the bills and ambitions lingering on Capitol Hill has become a defining characteristic of the complicated relationship between the president and congressional Republicans. Although Trump routinely proclaims his desire for political victories, he has yet to make a full-throated case to the country about legislation that Congress is pursuing and has spent a modest amount of time attempting to twist arms in the House or Senate.”