Trump and GOP Senators still without a single major piece of legislation in 2017
Developments on Day 250 of the Trump Administration:
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GOP Leadership Withdraws 4th Attempt to Repeal ObamaCare
Senate Republicans officially abandoned their fourth attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, admitting the lack of votes after a third GOP senator confirmed opposition.
On Monday, Susan Collins of Maine joined Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona in opposition, eliminating the GOP’s 52-48 Senate majority. Other senators, such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, were likely to join them.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a co-sponsor of the latest bill, admitted, “We don’t have the vote. Am I disappointed? Absolutely.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted, “We haven’t given up on changing the American health care system. We are not going to be able to do that this week, but it still lies ahead of us, and we haven’t given up on that.”
However, McConnell said that Republicans would now focus on the first major changes to the tax code since 1986.
The failure means that the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans still have not passed a single major piece of legislation since Donald Trump took office in January. The Administration has yet to present its first budget, having twice agreed to extensions of supplemental funding to keep the Federal Government open.
GOP Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Health Committee, and Senator Patty Murray, the senior Democrat on the committee, said they will resume efforts for legislation to stabilize insurance markets and hold down premiums under the ACA.
The Trump Administration has tried to undermine ObamaCare, hindering any limitation of premium increases and further enrollment, through a series of steps. Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to ruin the existing system, even in the absence of a replacement.
Donald Trump, who spent the weekend on Twitter blasting John McCain and holding out hope that Rand Paul would change his mind, offered no comment yesterday.
Trump Returns to Drumbeat on North Korea with Warning of “Devastating” Action
After a couple of days of silence on North Korea, Donald Trump returned to his threat on Tuesday of “devastating” military action.
Trump said at a press conference, alongside Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, that the US is “totally prepared” for military operations: “If we take that option it will be devastating — devastating — for North Korea. It’s called the military option.”
Claiming US Administrations for 25 years had taken no effective action, he declared, “I’ll fix the mess.”
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said on Monday that Trump had “declared a war” on Pyongyang, and asserted that US aircraft could be shot down off the North Korean coastline even if the jets were in international airspace.
On Saturday, US B1-B bombers flew to the east of North Korea, in their furthest flight north of the Demilitarized Zone in the 21st century.
Two “defense officials” said yesterday that Pyongyang has moved some fighter jets, external fuel tanks, and air-to-air missiles to a base on its eastern coast to boost military readiness.
Trouble for Health Secretary Price Over Use of Government-Funded Jets
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is in increasing difficulty because of revelations about the extent of his use of Government-funded jets for travel.
The latest report is that Price took a government-funded private jet in August to visit St. Simons Island, an exclusive Georgia resort where he and his wife own land, 36 hours before he addressed a group of local doctors at a medical conference.
The trip was one of two taxpayer-financed flights on private jets in which Price traveled to areas where he owns property, pairing official visits with meetings with longtime colleagues and family members. On June 6, his Department chartered a jet to fly Price to Nashville, Tennessee, where he owns a condominium and where his son lives.
An HHS official said the Georgia and Tennessee trips were for official government business and so were paid for by the department.
