Trumpcare Up for a Vote, Parliament Attack

To Your Health: Arms are expected to be twisted until the last moment today as the House of Representatives goes to vote on approval of the Republican healthcare bill. At last count yesterday, 24 Republicans planned to vote no and three were leaning to the negative, enough to kill Trumpcare and embarrass the great dealmaker.

Hardcore conservatives, including the Freedom Caucus backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, don’t think the law revokes enough of Obamacare, and doesn’t do enough to lower insurance premiums. They don’t like the minimum insurance standards, policies, for instance that require everyone to be insured for having babies. This puts the House Republican leaders in a squeeze. If they remove those requirements, the law might not pass the Senate.

The Republicans spent seven years denouncing and attempting to repeal Obamacare with no replacement ready to go. They have cobbled together their replacement in a matter of weeks. They are hanging on the edge of a stunning victory, or a legislative debacle.

Incidental Intelligence: California Rep. Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee looking into contact and collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign, met and briefed the President yesterday on the investigation in which the President himself could be under question. It’s highly unusual.

Democrats are furious, saying Nunes is incapable of leading an impartial investigation.

Speaking to reporters later, Nunes revealed that US intelligence agencies monitoring foreign officials “incidentally” picked up communications by members of President Trump’s post-election transition team, possibly even conversations in which Trump was a party.

The White House pounced on the news as proof of Trump’s claim that he was “wiretapped” by the Obama administration. “I think it’s startling information,” spokesman Sean Spicer said.

No one said Trump or his associates were the target. Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said “On numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.” That means they were tapping foreigners, and stumbled upon them having conversations with Trump associates.

Parliament Attack: Four people are dead and 29 injured after a man yesterday mowed down pedestrians on a bridge leading to Britain’s parliament building then got out and stabbed a police officer to death. Other officers shot and killed the attacker.

The British government is treating the incident as an act of terrorism. Three people were killed on the Westminster Bridge. Some of the injured were teenage students from France.

Overnight police raided six locations and arrested eight people, but authorities say they believe the attacker acted alone.

Under Cover: The Secret Service asked for an additional $60 million next year to help cover President Trump, his wife and son in New York, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida; his adult daughter and two grown sons as they travel the world opening new hotels and golf courses.

The Office of Management and Budget rejected the request.

Costs of covering the Trumps as opposed to the Obamas have rocketed. Nearly half the request, $26.8 million, was intended for protecting wife Melania and son Baron in their tri-level Trump Tower apartment. The buried lead here is that the Secret Service seems to assume that Melania will not be moving to the White House.

Et Tu Brute?: The Wall Street Journal, a bastion of conservatism, has published an editorial ripping President Trump’s performance and his loose association with truth. The paper says, “Two months into his presidency, Gallup has Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 39%. No doubt Mr. Trump considers that fake news, but if he doesn’t show more respect for the truth, most Americans may conclude he’s a fake President.”

The editorial dismissed Trump’s unsupported claim that his phones were bugged on the orders of President Obama. The paper says, “Yet the President clings to his assertion like a drunk to an empty gin bottle, rolling out his press spokesman to make more dubious claims.”

The Biz Page: Sears, which in the days when it was known as Sears Roebuck was the giant of American retailing, has told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it might go out of business. You used to be able to get anything from Sears, including mail order kit houses.

In opaque business language, Sears announced they’re broke. Sales have been diving for the company that also owns the K-Mart chain.

Advice and Consent: Federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch has survived three days of Senate questioning without reveling what the thinks about anything, except that he loves his wife and the Constitution.

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

  • Donald Trump courting the vote of the Christian right

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