One-week deal to keep Government open but White House fails again with healthcare bill


Developments on Day 99 of the Trump Administration:

See also VideoCast: 100 Days of Trump

Shutdown Averted, but White House Left with No Victory

Congress approves a one-week emergency spending measure to avert a close of Federal agencies, but Donald Trump’s failure to get funding for the US-Mexican border wall is followed by another setback in the attempt to repeal ObamaCare.

After the headline drama of a possible confrontation leaving the Government without funding authorization, Friday’s deal was accomplished in relative quiet. A continuing resolution sustains operations at current levels through next Friday, with Congressional leaders hoping to then pass provisions to cover the rest of the fiscal year to September 30.

The immediate deal was made possible by a double concession by the White House. Trump had insisted that an initial tranche $1.5 billion for “The Wall”, the 2,200-mile barrier estimated to cost more than $21 billion, but the Administration suddenly retreated on Wednesday. Then the White House said it would continue to make subsidy payments to insurers under the Affordable Care Act, blocking Trump’s intention to collapse ObamaCare by halting essential funding.

White House officials had hoped for a vote in the House of Representatives on a revised health care bill before Saturday and Trump’s Day 100. Members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, who were instrumental in blocking the initial bill in March, had indicated that they were satisfied with amendments. However, those amendments then appeared to risk loss of support from moderate Republicans, who fear the loss of coverage of an estimated 18 million Americans by 2018.

The chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, tried to downplay any setback, “I would love to have had the vote in the first 100 days. [But] if it takes another couple of days, then so be it.”

Meanwhile, Democrats marked a temporary victory in the aversion of the shutdown and looked for further success in checking Trump’s ambitions. Representative Jim McGovern said:

Let us begin by being thankful that we’re not going to do great harm to our country this week.

Now there’s always next week.