One of the nation’s largest healthcare lobbying groups Monday announced its opposition to the Senate’s ObamaCare repeal plan, warning that it could hurt the “most vulnerable citizens,” The Hill reports.
Said the American Medical Association: “Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or ‘first, do no harm.’ The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels.”
“I see what leadership is trying to do. They’re trying to jam this thing through.”
— Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, asking for more time to deliberate on the GOP health care bill.
Rick Hasen: “There was a lot of dissembling when Justice Gorsuch was nominated to the Supreme Court, that he was some kind of blank slate, without preconceived ideas about how he would rule as a Supreme Court Justice. Of course, this was a ruse to blunt public criticism. Many of us knew that he would be a very conservative Justice—the only question is if he will be more like Scalia, Thomas, or Alito.”
“Justice Gorsuch has been on the Court only a few months, and only heard one month’s worth of oral arguments. But today, on the last day of the Supreme Court’s term, we got a very good indication he will be most like Justice Scalia, and often voting with Justices Thomas and Alito, making Justice Gorsuch one of the most, or most, conservative Justices.”
“The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will decide whether President Trump’s revised travel ban was lawful, setting the stage for a major decision on the scope of presidential power,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s revised executive order, issued in March, limited travel from six mostly Muslim countries for 90 days and suspended the nation’s refugee program for 120 days. The time was needed, the order said, to address gaps in the government’s screening and vetting procedures.”
Politico notes the court “will allow parts of the directive to take effect in the meantime.”
Axios: “Unlike in the original travel ban, travelers with valid green cards and visas will be allowed to enter the U.S., but all refugees from the 6 countries listed will be banned.”
Jonathan Swan: “A widely-held view in McConnell-world is that he doesn’t start with 52 Republicans; he starts with 51. Many view Rand Paul as a lost cause and someone who was never ‘gettable.’ Upshot: McConnell has no wiggle-room — he can only afford to lose one more.”
“Of the four conservatives who came out against the bill last week, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson are viewed as easier pickings.”
For members: The Senators Who Will Decide the Health Care Fight
“The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from a Colorado baker with religious objections to same-sex marriage who had lost a discrimination case for refusing to create a cake to celebrate such a union,” the New York Times reports.
“The case will be a major test of a clash between laws that bar businesses open to the public from discriminating based on sexual orientation and claims of religious freedom. Around the nation, businesses like bakeries, florists and photography studios have said, so far with little success, that forcing them to serve gay couples violates their constitutional rights.”
President Trump resumed a Twitter rant about Russia, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, “an apparent continuation of his reaction to a damning Washington Post story from last week that painted Obama as having done too little too late to pinch off the Kremlin’s influence over the 2016 election,” The Week reports.
“Trump — who has been accused of ‘collusion’ and ‘obstruction’ himself — turned the allegations on their head to baselessly accuse his predecessor of colluding with Russia or obstructing justice instead. It is not entirely clear from Trump’s tweets what he means, though.”
Jeffrey Toobin looks at how the National Enquirer and CEO David Pecker have embraced President Trump with “sycophantic zeal.”
“Pecker is now considering expanding his business: he may bid to take over the financially strapped magazines of Time, Inc., which include Time, People, and Fortune… Pecker would almost certainly direct those magazines, and the journalists who work for them, to advance the interests of the President and to damage those of his opponents.”
“I try to stay out of politics. His political instincts are phenomenal.”
— Ivanka Trump, quoted by Politico.
“The Trump administration has taken little meaningful action to prevent Russian hacking, leaking and disruption in the next national election in 2018, despite warnings from intelligence officials that it will happen again,” officials and experts told NBC News.
“According to recent Congressional testimony, Trump has shown no interest in the question of how to prevent future election interference by Russia or another foreign power. Former FBI Director James Comey told senators that Trump never asked him about how to stop a future Russian election cyber attack, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who sits on the National Security Council, testified that he has not received a classified briefing on Russian election interference.”
“Dozens of state officials told NBC News they have received little direction from Washington about election security.”
Frank Rich: “For all the months of sensational revelations and criminal indictments (including of his campaign manager and former attorney general, John Mitchell), a Harris poll found that only 22 percent thought Nixon should leave office. Gallup put the president’s approval rating in the upper 30s, roughly where our current president stands now — lousy, but not apocalyptic. There had yet to be an impeachment resolution filed in Congress by even Nixon’s most partisan adversaries.”
“He had defied his political obituaries before, staging comebacks after a slush-fund scandal nearly cost him his vice-presidential perch on the GOP ticket in 1952 and again after his 1962 defeat in the California governor’s race prompted the angry ‘last press conference’ at which he vowed that ‘you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.’ Might Tricky Dick pull off another Houdini? He was capable of it, and, as it happened, it would take another full year of bombshells and firestorms after the televised Senate hearings before a clear majority of Americans (57 percent) finally told pollsters they wanted the president to go home. Only then did he oblige them, in August 1974.”
A new Pew Research survey finds that by a margin of nearly two-to-one, 62% to 32%, more Americans now say they favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry than say they are opposed.
“Views on same-sex marriage have shifted dramatically in recent years. As recently as 2010, more Americans opposed (48%) than favored (42%) allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. In the past year alone, support has increased seven percentage points.”
“White House sources think Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s ideological fulcrum, may announce his retirement today, as the justices gather on the bench for the last time this term,” Mike Allen reports.
“Few domestic developments could more instantly and decisively change the national conversation — blotting out almost everything else, and vastly reducing the sting for conservatives is healthcare tanks.”
David Lat, writing last night: “Based on reports I’ve received from former AMK clerks who attended his law clerk reunion dinner last night, it is highly unlikely that Justice Kennedy will announce his retirement tomorrow.”
Politico: “A new campaign by top White House allies targeting the GOP’s most vulnerable senator over health care sends a loud message to those resistant to the Trump agenda: We’re coming after you.”
“The offensive is aimed at both punishing Heller and at swaying his vote, and it is a stunning act of political retaliation against a member of the president’s own party – one who faces a perilous path to re-election in 2018. Senior Republicans, many of whom are deeply worried about Heller’s political standing and increasingly nervous about the midterms, were shocked and spent the weekend measuring the possible fallout.”
Meanwhile, Mike Allen reports that the group funding the ads “is giving Heller a chance to modify his blast at the bill, before unleashing an advertising attack in his home state.”
President Trump “is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month. But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections,” the AP reports.
“Many administration officials believe the U.S. needs to maintain its distance from Russia at such a sensitive time — and interact only with great caution. But Trump and some others within his administration have been pressing for a full bilateral meeting. He’s calling for media access and all the typical protocol associated with such sessions, even as officials within the State Department and National Security Council urge more restraint, according to a current and a former administration official.”
Playbook: “Republicans have been talking about repealing Obamacare for six years, and this week they are finally poised to take up their legislation. One problem: it’s unclear if they have anywhere near the support they need to get the bill through. Expect a lot of arm twisting and drama over the next several days. President Donald Trump will play a support role.”
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s allies have sent signals that he is going to put the bill up for a vote even if he doesn’t expect it to pass. But Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters in Colorado Springs that Aug. 1 is the real final deadline.”
“If it looks like this bill will pass, there’s a chance the House will stick around to try to take action. Senior Republicans we talk to tell us they’d want to try to take advantage of the political momentum. But there’s still serious doubt this bill can pass the House.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.