Tag Archives: Senate

Trump signs Russia sanctions law, but slams it as ‘flawed’

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Roberta Rampton and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump grudgingly signed into law on Wednesday new sanctions against Russia that Congress had approved overwhelmingly last week, criticizing the legislation as having “clearly unconstitutional” elements.

After signing a bill that runs counter to his desire to improve relations with Moscow, and which also affects Iran and North Korea, the Republican president laid out a lengthy list of concerns.

“While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed,” Trump said in a statement announcing the signing.

The Republican-controlled Congress approved the legislation by such a large margin on Thursday that it would have thwarted any effort by Trump to veto the bill.

The legislation has already provoked countermeasures by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has ordered big cuts to the number of staff at the U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia.

Congress approved the sanctions to punish the Russian government over interference in the 2016 presidential election, annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and other perceived violations of international norms.

Trump said he was concerned about the sanctions’ effect on work with European allies, and on American business.

“My administration … expects the Congress to refrain from using this flawed bill to hinder our important work with European allies to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and from using it to hinder our efforts to address any unintended consequences it may have for American businesses, our friends, or our allies,” he said.

The president also complained about what he said were “clearly unconstitutional provisions” in the legislation relating to presidential powers to shape foreign policy.

The new sanctions measure, the first major foreign policy legislation approved by Congress since Trump took office in January, includes a provision allowing Congress to stop any effort by the president to ease existing sanctions on Russia.

Trump has long said he would like improved ties with Russia. But any such efforts by his administration have been hamstrung by findings by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered to help the Republican against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. U.S. congressional committees and a special counsel are investigating. Moscow denies any meddling and Trump denies any collusion by his campaign.

In a second statement on the legislation, Trump said that, “Despite its problems, I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity.”

“It represents the will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States,” he added.

The legislation will affect a range of Russian industries and might further hurt the Russian economy, already weakened by 2014 sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crime from Ukraine.

It also cracks down on Iran and North Korea for activities that include their missile development programs and human rights abuses, including seeking to punish foreign banks that do business with North Korea.

NO FANFARE FOR BILL SIGNING

After Congress approved the sanctions, the Kremlin ordered the United States to cut about 60 percent of its diplomatic staff in Russia. Putin said on Sunday that Russia had ordered the United States to cut 755 of its 1,200 embassy and consulate staff by September, and was seizing two diplomatic properties.

Besides angering Moscow, the legislation has upset the European Union, which has said the new sanctions might affect its energy security and prompt it to act, too.

Trump’s fellow Republicans praised him for signing the bill.

However, one Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, while welcoming the signing, was critical of the low-key way it was done, without the typical array of television cameras and reporters present.

“The fact (that) he does this kind of quietly I think reinforces the narrative that the Trump administration is not really serious about pushing back on Russia. And I think that is a mistake, too, because Putin will see this as a sign of weakness,” Graham said in a CNN interview.

Several provisions of the sanctions target the Russian energy sector, with new limits on U.S. investment in Russian companies. American companies also would be barred from participating in energy exploration projects where Russian firms have a stake of 33 percent or higher.

The legislation includes sanctions on foreign companies investing in or helping Russian energy exploration, although the president could waive those sanctions.

It would give the Trump administration the option of imposing sanctions on companies helping develop Russian export pipelines, such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline carrying natural gas to Europe, in which German companies are involved.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey and Caren Bohan; Writing by Frances Kerry; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Republican effort to gut Obamacare crashes in U.S. Senate

The United States Capitol is seen prior to an all night round of health care votes on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Yasmeen Abutaleb, Amanda Becker and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Senate led by Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans failed by a single vote to pass a healthcare bill on Friday, delivering a stinging blow to the president as it undermined his campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare.

Three Republican senators – John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski – joined Senate Democrats in the dramatic early-morning 51-49 vote rejecting the bill. The outcome may spell doom for the party’s seven-year quest to gut a 2010 law that was Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

For the moment the Affordable Care Act, which extended health insurance to 20 million people and drove the percentage of uninsured people to historic lows, remains in place and must be run by an administration that is hostile to it.

This leaves health insurers unsure how long the administration will continue to make billions of dollars in Obamacare payments that help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans.

In Friday’s vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was unsuccessful in securing passage of even a stripped-down so-called skinny bill that would have repealed a few key parts of Obamacare. Broader legislation was defeated earlier in the week.

“It’s time to move on,” McConnell, whose reputation as a master strategist was in tatters, said on the Senate floor after the vote that unfolded at roughly 1:30 a.m.

“The American people are going to regret that we couldn’t find a better way forward,” McConnell added.

Republicans have long denounced Obamacare – which expanded the Medicaid health insurance for the poor and disabled and created online marketplaces for individuals to obtain coverage – as an intrusion by government on people’s healthcare decisions.

The Senate failure to move forward on dismantling it called into question the Republican Party’s basic ability to govern even as it controls the White House, Senate and House of Representatives.

Trump has not had a major legislative victory after more than six months in office. He had promised to get major healthcare legislation, tax cuts and a boost in infrastructure spending through Congress in short order.

“3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let Obamacare implode, then deal. Watch!” Trump wrote on Twitter after the vote.

But McCain wrote on Twitter, “Skinny repeal fell short because it fell short of our promise to repeal & replace Obamacare w/ meaningful reform.”

Republicans released the skinny bill just three hours before voting began. It would have retroactively repealed Obamacare’s penalty on individuals who do not obtain health insurance, repealed for eight years a penalty on certain businesses that do not provide employees with insurance and repealed a tax on medical devices until 2020. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that if it became law, 15 million fewer Americans would be insured in 2018 than under existing law.

The Affordable Care Act was passed by a then-Democratic controlled Congress with no Republican support in 2010. But Republicans have failed to come up with a consensus plan to replace it at a time when they hold all the power in Washington.

UNCERTAINTY FOR HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

Health insurers have until September to finalize their 2018 health plans in many Obamacare marketplaces.

Some insurers, including Humana and Aetna, have pulled out of such markets, citing the uncertainty over the payments. Others have raised rates by double digits and said that they will need to raise rates another 20 percent if the uncertainty does not ease. Anthem Inc, which has already left three of the 14 states where it sells Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, said this week it might pull out of more.

Wall Street traded lower on Friday with less focus on the news from the Senate overnight and more on key earnings from Amazon and Exxon. Shares of hospitals were mixed: Tenet Healthcare fell 2 percent, Community Health Systems was nearly flat and HCA Healthcare gained 1.2 percent. Shares of health insurers were also mixed. Aetna was off 0.2 percent, Anthem gained 0.4 percent and Humana was off 0.3 percent.

Democrats, and some Republicans, said the bill’s failure could present an opportunity for the two parties to work together to fix problematic areas of the Obamacare law without repealing it.

Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi called on Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to establish a process for moving forward on improving Obamacare, rather than repealing it.

After the House passed a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare in May, McConnell grappled to get Senate Republicans to agree on their version of the bill. Hard-line conservatives wanted a bill that would substantially gut Obamacare, while moderates were concerned over legislation that could deprive millions of people of their healthcare coverage.

Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the 100-seat Senate and could afford to lose support from only two Republican senators, with Vice President Mike Pence ready to cast a tie-breaking vote on the Senate floor.

DRAMA OVER MCCAIN

As the vote on the skinny bill approached, all eyes in the Senate chamber were on McCain. The 2008 Republican presidential nominee flew back from Arizona earlier in the week after being diagnosed this month with brain cancer. McCain, an 80-year-old former prisoner of war in Vietnam who tangled with Trump during the 2016 election campaign and was disparaged by him, won praise for this from the president.

McCain, a veteran senator who has long been known for his independent streak, delivered a rousing speech on Tuesday calling for cooperation between the parties and then cast a decisive vote in allowing the Senate to take up the healthcare bill.

Early on Friday, he sat on the Senate floor talking to Collins, Murkowski, and Republican Senator Jeff Flake, also from Arizona. Collins and Murkowski both voted this week against broader Republican healthcare proposals, and both had concerns about the pared-down proposal.

McCain was approached before voting began by Pence and a close friend, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. After speaking to them, McCain walked across the Senate floor to tell top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and other Democrats he would vote with them.

When McCain walked to the front of the Senate chamber to cast his deciding “no” vote, giving a thumbs down, Democrats cheered, knowing the bill would fail.

Trump had often expressed exasperation over the failure of congressional Republicans to overcome internal divisions to repeal Obamacare, but offered no policy specifics himself.

He has demanded at various times that Obamacare should be allowed to collapse on its own, that it should be repealed without replacement, and that it should be repealed and replaced.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan and Eric Walsh in Washington, Saikat Chatterjee and Abhinav Ramnarayan in London; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Louise Ireland and Frances Kerry)

Senate poised for healthcare showdown

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, accompanied by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), speaks with reporters following the successful vote to open debate on a health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Amanda Becker and Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans begin their final push on Thursday to unravel Obamacare, seeking to wrap up their seven-year offensive against former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law that extended insurance coverage to millions.

Republicans leaders hope a pared-down “skinny” bill that repeals several key Obamacare provisions can gain enough support to pass after several attempts at broader legislation failed to win approval earlier this week.

The skinny bill’s details will be released at some point on Thursday, before the Senate embarks on a marathon voting session that could extend into Friday morning. The legislation is expected to eliminate mandates requiring individuals and employers to obtain or provide health insurance, and abolish a tax on medical device manufacturers.

The effort comes after a chaotic two-month push by Senate Republicans to pass their version of legislation that made it out of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in May.

Members of the party, including President Donald Trump, campaigned on a pledge to repeal and replace what they say is a failing law that allows the government to intrude in people’s healthcare decisions.

Republicans were optimistic about the skinny bill’s chances of receiving at least 50 votes in the Senate where they hold a 52-48 majority.

Senator John Cornyn, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said the bill, once approved, would go to a special negotiating committee of lawmakers from both chambers that would reconcile the House and Senate versions into a single piece of legislation.

Republican leaders had tapped a group to craft legislation largely behind closed doors, exposing rifts within the party. While conservatives said the group’s proposals did not go far enough, moderates said they could not support measures estimated to deprive tens of millions of health insurance.

The Senate voted 55-45 on Wednesday against a simple repeal of Obamacare, which would have provided a two-year delay so Congress could work out a replacement. Seven Republicans opposed the bill. On Tuesday, senators rejected the repeal-and-replace plan Republicans had been working on since May.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can lose only two Republican votes to pass healthcare legislation. Even then, he would have to call on Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote as head of the Senate. Democrats are united in opposition.

GOVERNORS SEEK INVOLVEMENT

A bipartisan group of 10 governors urged senators in a letter on Wednesday to start over and use a drafting process that includes governors from both parties. Governors of Nevada, Ohio, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Colorado were among those who signed the letter, all of whose states have Republican senators.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan research agency, estimated on Wednesday that a combination of provisions that might go into the skinny bill would lead to 16 million people losing their health coverage by 2026.

It had earlier estimated that the two other bills rejected by the Senate this week would have led to 22 million to 32 million people losing their health insurance by 2026.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republican leaders for crafting a “yet-to-be-disclosed final bill” in secret.

“We don’t know if skinny repeal is going to be their final bill, but if it is, the CBO says it would cause costs to go up, and millions to lose insurance,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan and David Morgan; Writing by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Kid Rock may run for Senate, says voter registration ‘critical cause’

FILE PHOTO: 2017 CMT Music Awards Show - Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., 07/06/2017 - Kid Rock presents the Video of the Year award. REUTERS/Harrison McClary/File Photo

(Note: Strong language in paragraph 5)

By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) – Kid Rock, an outspoken supporter of Republican President Donald Trump, said on Thursday that he will decide over the next few weeks on whether to run for the U.S. Senate and in the meantime will work on the “critical cause” of registering voters.

The singer-songwriter said in a statement that he plans to create a non-profit organization to promote voter registration so he can raise money for the cause and get people registered to vote at his shows as he explores his possible candidacy in 2018.

“The one thing I’ve seen over and over is that although people are unhappy with the government, too few are even registered to vote or do anything about it,” he said.

Rock said he will discuss his political plans at a press conference in about six weeks.

“If I decide to throw my hat in the ring for U.S. Senate, believe me … it’s game on mthr*****,” he said in the statement.

Earlier this month, Rock drew attention on Twitter and his Facebook page to a “Kid Rock ’18 for U.S. Senate” website, stoking speculation that the 46-year-old Michigan native was considering a run next year.

“I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bull****,” he said.

Born Robert James Ritchie in the Detroit suburb of Romeo, he rose to fame in 1998 as his debut album “Devil Without a Cause” sold some 14 million copies. He gained additional celebrity through his courtship of actress Pamela Anderson and their brief marriage in the 2000s.

The Capitol Hill-based newspaper Roll Call reported that Rock’s name surfaced as a possible candidate earlier this month during a state Republican Party convention in Michigan, which Trump carried in the 2016 presidential race, though no official decisions were announced.

Rock presumably would seek to challenge Michigan’s Democratic incumbent senator, Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election in 2018.

According to Roll Call, Rock endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president in 2012 and initially supported Ben Carson for the Republican nomination in 2016 but switched to Trump when the former reality-TV star became the party’s nominee.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Brawl over Obamacare repeal returns to Senate floor

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, accompanied by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), speaks with reporters following the successful vote to open debate on a health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After a months-long struggle, Republicans have succeeded in bringing Obamacare repeal legislation, a centerpiece of their 2016 election campaigns, to a debate on the U.S. Senate floor. Now the hard part begins.

Republicans, deeply divided over the proper role of the government in helping low-income people receive healthcare, eked out a procedural win on Tuesday when the Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a tie, to allow debate to start on legislation.

The outcome came as a huge relief to President Donald Trump, who has called Obamacare a “disaster” and pushed fellow Republicans in recent days to follow through on the party’s seven-year quest to roll back the law.

But hours later, Senate Republican leadership suffered a setback when the repeal and replace plan that they had been working on since May failed to get enough votes for approval, with nine out of 52 Republicans voting against it.

Usually, bills reach the floor with a predictable outcome: Senators have received summaries of the legislation to be debated that were written in an open committee process, leaders have counted the number of supporters and opponents, amendments are debated and everybody knows the likely outcome: passage.

All that is out the window now, as the Senate on Wednesday continues a freewheeling debate that could stretch through the week on undoing major portions of former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, which expanded health insurance to about 20 million people, many of them low-income.

Republican leaders have insisted they can devise a cheaper approach this week and with less government intrusion into consumers’ healthcare decisions than Obamacare.

Democrats and other critics of the Republican effort said it would deprive millions of health coverage.

“We’ve tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them it’s better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition,” Republican Senator John McCain said on Tuesday.

“I don’t think that is going to work in the end. And it probably shouldn’t,” he added.

The veteran Arizona lawmaker made his remarks after receiving a standing ovation from his colleagues, as he returned to the Senate just days after surgery and being diagnosed with brain cancer.

McCain appealed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to start over by having a Senate committee, in a bipartisan way, craft new healthcare legislation.

His proposal was promptly ignored.

‘SKINNY’ BILL GETS TRACTION

As senators grind through potentially scores of amendments in coming days – in a process called a “vote-a-rama” – they will have more than McCain’s scorn to worry about.

Healthcare industry organizations are similarly troubled.

“We strongly oppose all plans so far to replace the Affordable Care Act and have no confidence lawmakers can overcome the flaws in these proposals,” said America’s Essential Hospitals, a group representing hospitals that treat poor people.

Like McCain, the group urged the Senate, narrowly controlled by Republicans, to halt its work on Obamacare repeal legislation and begin a bipartisan effort on healthcare.

The Republican drive to “repeal and replace” Obamacare has taken many unexpected turns since the House of Representatives began working on its version of legislation last March.

For now, many Republican senators are wondering whether they may end up going to a Plan B – a “skinny” healthcare bill that would simply end Obamacare’s penalties for individuals and employers that do not obtain or provide health insurance, as well as abolish a medical device tax.

It would then be up to a special Senate-House committee to come up with a final bill that could take many turns during the negotiation.

After Tuesday’s nail-biter Senate vote setting up the floor debate, McConnell may have best summed up the landscape facing the chamber’s 100 senators.

“This is just the beginning,” he told reporters.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Mary Milliken, Peter Cooney and Michael Perry)

Trump’s son, close associates to appear before Senate

FILE PHOTO - A combination photo of Donald Trump Jr. from July 11, 2017, Jared Kushner from June 6, 2017 and Paul Manafort from August 17, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder, Carlo Allegri (R)/File Photo

By Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort have been asked to appear before U.S. Senate committees next week to answer questions about the campaign’s alleged connections to Russia, officials said on Wednesday.

The three men are the closest associates of the president to be called to speak to lawmakers involved in probing Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

Trump, who came into office in January, has been dogged by allegations that his campaign officials were connected to Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies have accused of interfering in last year’s election.

Trump has denied any collusion.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said on Wednesday that it had called Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Manafort to testify on July 26 at a hearing.

The president’s son released emails earlier this month that showed him eagerly agreeing to meet last year with a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The meeting was also attended by Manafort and Kushner, who is now a senior adviser at the White House.

Kushner is scheduled to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, July 24, behind closed doors.

“Working with and being responsive to the schedules of the committees, we have arranged Mr. Kushner’s interview with the Senate for July 24,” Kushner’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest.”

A special counsel, Robert Mueller, is also conducting an investigation of Russian meddling in the U.S. election and any collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign.

The issue has overshadowed Trump’s tenure in office and irritated the president, who told the New York Times on Wednesday that he would not have appointed ally and former Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general if he had known Sessions would recuse himself from oversight of the Russia probe.

“Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Trump said in the interview.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, said the committee’s hearing would enable the panel to begin to get testimony under oath.

“There has been an enormous amount that has been said publicly but it’s not under oath, which means that people are free to omit matters or lie with relative impunity,” Whitehouse told CNN.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting one of the main investigations of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion by Trump associates, but the Judiciary committee has been looking into related issues.

The public Judiciary hearing on Wednesday will look into rules governing the registration of agents working for foreign governments in the United States and foreign attempts to influence U.S. elections.

Chuck Grassley, the committee’s Republican chairman, has said he wanted to question the Trump associates, but has also raised concerns about why the Obama administration allowed Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the Trump Tower meeting in June, into the United States.

He also has called before the committee and threatened to subpoena Glenn Simpson, a co-founder of Fusion GPS, a firm that commissioned former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to dig up opposition research on Trump, when he was a presidential candidate.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Eric Beech, David Alexander and Julia Ainsley; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

Senate Republicans reluctantly consider bipartisan healthcare talks

Healthcare activists with Planned Parenthood and the Center for American Progress protest in opposition to the Senate Republican healthcare bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Amanda Becker and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As their seven-year effort to repeal and replace Obamacare derailed in the U.S. Senate, Republicans faced the prospect of doing the once unthinkable: working with Democrats to make fixes to former President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law.

Bipartisan breakthroughs would likely come in the form of individual bills targeted at issues such as stabilizing insurance markets or lowering prescription drug costs. A wholesale overhaul of healthcare, senators say, is a bridge too far for the two parties, locked for years in an ideological battle on that issue and many others.

Democrats, clearly delighted with the turn of events, welcomed the Republicans’ failure to replace Obamacare as an opportunity to work together. Republicans conceded their other options may be exhausted.

“This is our moment, we have been waiting for this moment for months and months and in fact for years,” Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said at a Tuesday news conference.

Democrats are united in opposing repeal of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, which boosted the number of Americans with health insurance through mandates on individuals and employers, and income-based subsidies.

The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn, told reporters it was “unfortunate” that he expected bipartisan talks to begin.

“Democrats are strongly committed to Obamacare and are unwilling to admit structural problems, which create the problems we are having in the individual market today,” Cornyn said. “But we’ll do the best we can with the hand we’ve been dealt.”

President Donald Trump invited all Republican senators to have lunch at the White House on Wednesday to discuss healthcare and other priorities, an administration official said, adding without elaboration: “There is movement on healthcare.”

Repealing and replacing Obama’s signature healthcare law was a top campaign promise for Trump and Republicans in Congress, who say it is a costly intrusion into the healthcare system.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, working for the first time on major legislation with Republican control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, conceded on Monday night that there was not enough Republican consensus around his revised bill to replace Obamacare. He said he would instead hold a straight repeal vote sometime next week.

But at least three Republican senators have already said they oppose repealing Obamacare without an agreement on replacement legislation, likely dooming its prospects. McConnell can only lose two votes from his 52-seat majority in the 100-seat Senate to pass healthcare legislation.

Senate Republicans passed a straight repeal bill two years ago, but Obama vetoed it. The upcoming repeal vote will include a two-year delay, McConnell said.

That would “give us an opportunity to build something better on a bipartisan basis, that’s what I sense most of our members would like to vote on now, and we’ll be doing that in the near future,” McConnell told a news conference on Tuesday.

SHORING UP STATE MARKETS

An initial hurdle in coming weeks will be shoring up faltering state insurance markets by ensuring that insurers keep receiving subsidies that help lower the cost of insurance for low-income individuals.

The Trump administration will continue making the subsidy payments through August while a related Republican lawsuit is pending. The uncertainty beyond that has rattled insurers.

Republican senators have acknowledged the need to address the unstable markets but resisted Democratic calls to fund the subsidies without accompanying reforms, calling it a “bailout” for insurance companies.

Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a part of the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, known as CHIP, expires on Sept. 30 and will require reauthorization.

Bills to address the subsidy payments and CHIP would likely require 60 votes for passage, acting as a barometer of how inclined Republicans and Democrats are to work together, industry lobbyists and experts said.

Trump suggested on Tuesday that Republicans should allow the insurance markets to fail before working with Democrats. But Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, the head of the Senate Committee on Health, Labor and Pensions, said he would begin holding hearings on the issue in the next few weeks.

Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, said it would be “very smart” for lawmakers to work together to stabilize the markets by funding the subsidies.

“It would send a very strong message to the market, if Congress passes a bill. … I think that would do a lot to create some stabilization that is much needed,” Murray told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Cooney)

Senate delays healthcare vote as McCain recovers from surgery

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) speaks with reporters about the Senate health care bill on Capitol Hill

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate will delay its consideration of healthcare legislation while Arizona Republican Senator John McCain recuperates from surgery, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Saturday.

McCain’s absence cast doubt on whether the Senate would be able to pass the legislation to dismantle and replace Obamacare. McConnell needs 50 “yes” votes for passage in a chamber the Republicans control by a 52-48 margin.

“While John is recovering, the Senate will continue our work on legislative items and nominations, and will defer consideration of the Better Care Act,” McConnell said in a statement.

The announcement came after McCain’s office said he would remain in Arizona next week following a procedure to remove a 2-inch (5-cm) blood clot from above his left eye.

Repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law was a top campaign promise for President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.

But two Republican senators have already declared their opposition to revised legislation unveiled on Thursday.

McCain has expressed concern about the healthcare bill but has not said how he would vote.

The 2008 Republican presidential nominee, McCain was resting comfortably at home in good condition after Friday’s operation, his office said.

“There are few people tougher than my friend John McCain, and I know he’ll be back with us soon,” McConnell said.

McCain’s surgeons removed the clot during a minimally invasive craniotomy through an incision in the 80-year-old lawmaker’s eyebrow. Tissue pathology reports would be available within the next several days.

“Thanks to @MayoClinic for its excellent care — I appreciate your support and look forward to getting back to work!” McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on social network Twitter late on Saturday.

 

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Clarence Fernandez)

 

One more Republican defection would doom Senate healthcare bill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with reporters about the Senate health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 13, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Susan Cornwell and David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Friday on fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate to pass a bill dismantling the Obamacare law, but with their retooled healthcare plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned for a vote next week on revised legislation, unveiled on Thursday, and he has his work cut out for him in the coming days to get the 50 “yes” votes needed for passage. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin and cannot afford to lose more than two from within their ranks because of united Democratic opposition, but two Republican senators already have declared opposition.

“After all of these years of suffering thru Obamacare, Republican Senators must come through as they have promised,” Trump, who made gutting Obamacare one of his central campaign promises last year, wrote on Twitter from Paris, where he attended Bastille Day celebrations.

The top U.S. doctors’ group, the American Medical Association, on Friday called the new bill inadequate and said more bipartisan collaboration is needed in the months ahead to improve the delivery and financing of healthcare. Hospital and medical advocacy groups also have criticized the bill.

“The revised bill does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients regarding proposed Medicaid cuts and inadequate subsidies that will result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage,” AMA President Dr. David Barbe said, referring to the government insurance program for the poor and disabled.

A major test for McConnell’s legislation expected early next week is an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which last month forecast that the prior version of the bill would have resulted in 22 million Americans losing insurance over the next decade.

A day after that CBO analysis was issued, McConnell postponed a planned vote on the legislation because of a revolt within his own party, including moderates and hard-line conservatives.

While the bill’s prospects may look precarious, the same could have been said of healthcare legislation that ultimately was passed by the House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan called off a vote in March in the face of a rebellion involving the disparate factions of the party but managed to coax enough lawmakers to back it and engineered narrow approval on May 4.

PENCE SEEKS SUPPORT

Vice President Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation’s governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio’s John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilize the insurance market.

Kasich’s opposition could put pressure on Rob Portman, a Republican senator from Ohio, who has not yet taken a position on the bill.

If the current Senate legislation collapses, some lawmakers have raised the possibility of seeking bipartisan legislation to fix parts of Obamacare but leaving intact the structure of the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare.

“There are changes that need to be made to the law,” Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told MSNBC, citing “a bipartisan appetite to tackle this issue.”

Moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul already oppose the revised Senate bill. Other Republican senators have either expressed concern or remained noncommittal, including Portman, Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, John McCain, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Cory Gardner, Todd Young and Thom Tillis. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy floated an alternative plan.

The new version was crafted to satisfy the Republican Party’s various elements, including moderates worried about Americans who would be left without medical coverage and hard-line conservatives who demand less government regulation of health insurance.

A provision championed by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and aimed at attracting conservatives would let insurers sell cheap, bare-bones insurance policies that would not have to cover broad benefits mandated under Obamacare.

But two major health insurance groups, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, called on McConnell to drop the Cruz proposal, saying it would undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions, raise insurance premiums and destabilize the individual insurance market.

The bill retained certain Obamacare taxes on the wealthy that the earlier version would have eliminated, a step moderates could embrace. But it kept the core of the earlier bill, including ending the expansion of Medicaid that was instrumental in enabling Obamacare to expand coverage to 20 million people, and restructuring that social safety-net program.

John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said in order to complete work on the bill by the end of next week, Senate leaders would have to try to formally begin debate on Tuesday or Wednesday, a move that requires a majority vote.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Alexander; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Jonathan Oatis)

Feuding U.S. Senate Republicans to get revised healthcare bill

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks with reporters about the Senate health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 12, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republican leaders are expected to unveil a new version of their legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare on Thursday, amid continued feuding among lawmakers over what should go in the bill and uncertainty over its prospects.

With his reputation as a skillful strategist hanging in the balance, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will present the revised bill in a bid to unite disparate Republican factions and deliver on his party’s signature issue in the 2016 elections. He is aiming for a vote next week.

A Wednesday closed-door meeting did not resolve several disputes among moderate and conservative Republicans over the bill’s contents, senators said.

But President Donald Trump, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, said he would be “very angry” if he does not get a bill on his desk to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, told Reuters in a Capitol hallway many senators had come to realize they could talk about healthcare “endlessly” without deciding anything. “That’s why it’s important that we go ahead and schedule the vote,” he said.

The House of Representatives passed a healthcare overhaul bill last month. In the interview on Wednesday, the Republican president said McConnell “has to pull it off” in the Senate.

Several of the Senate’s 52 Republicans said they were waiting to see the revised legislation before deciding whether to back it. This made it difficult to predict whether it can gather the minimum of 50 votes it will need to pass the 100-vote chamber, with Vice President Mike Pence ready to cast a tie-breaking vote for the bill.

Democrats are united in opposition to the effort to scrap Obamacare.

Conservative Republican Senator Rand Paul made clear he was against the bill and would not even vote to advance it procedurally. He said it would be “worse” than a previous draft because it is expected to leave in place some of the Obamacare taxes on wealthy Americans.

Cornyn said one unresolved issue was whether to include a proposal by conservative Republican Ted Cruz that would let insurers offer basic low-cost healthcare plans that do not comply with Obamacare regulations. Some moderates dislike this, saying it could leave insurers charging more for comprehensive plans that do comply with Obamacare. Insurers weighed in strongly against the idea on Wednesday as well.

The previous draft of the bill unveiled last month would phase out the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid health insurance for the poor and disabled, sharply cut federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025, repeal many of Obamacare’s taxes, end a penalty on individuals who do not obtain insurance and overhaul Obamacare’s subsidies to help people buy insurance with tax credits.

Moderate Republican senators are uneasy about the millions of people forecast to lose their medical insurance under the legislation and hard-line conservatives say it leaves too much of Obamacare intact.

(Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Caroline Humer; Editing by Mary Milliken and Tom Brown)