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Wednesday, 07/26/17Watch the full episode of Wednesday night's The Rachel Maddow Show.
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Senate Republicans plan to write health care bill over lunch
As things stand, Senate Republicans are eager to pass a health care plan that doesn't exist, but Reuters reports that GOP lawmakers intend to finalize a proposal this afternoon.
Republicans leaders hope a so-called skinny bill, which repeals a few key provisions of Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law without being a far-reaching overhaul, can draw enough votes to pass despite unified Democratic opposition. [...]
Republican senators were expected to hammer out provisions of the measure during a policy lunch on Thursday, giving lawmakers scant hours to digest its provisions before voting. Republican leaders have been sending pieces of the legislation to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office to assess its impact and determine whether it complies with Senate rules.
There's no word as to whether senators will literally use the backs of envelopes and handy cocktail napkins while writing their legislation.
It's tempting at this point to start delving into the details of what we think we know about the "skinny repeal" bill, but I'm afraid it's folly. Every few minutes, new scuttlebutt points in new directions. We should have a better sense of the legislative specifics fairly soon.
But it's worth pausing to appreciate how truly ridiculous the circumstances are. Congressional Republicans have been working on their alternative to the Affordable Care Act for seven years. And yet, in true post-policy fashion, GOP senators intend to scribble some ideas down over lunch on a Thursday afternoon, and then pass it on a Thursday night or Friday.
This is not how policymaking is supposed to work in the United States. Contemporary Republicans simply don't care.
Thursday's Campaign Round-Up, 7.27.17
Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* If Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to quit his current job, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said he'd stand down and let the former senator have his old job back. Alabama's special-election primary to fill Sessions' old Senate seat is in three weeks.
* Eric Trump, who's supposed to be helping run his father's business and steering clear of politics, wrote a new fundraising letter this week on behalf of Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.
* To the surprise of no one, Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) announced yesterday he's running for the U.S. Senate next year, hoping to take on incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.). Messer will likely be part of a crowded GOP primary.
* As Rachel noted on the show last night, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, hoping to prove his value in Trump World, has reportedly begun touting "his ability to raise money from wealthy donors, suggesting he could bring in funds to a legal-defense fund." When Priebus was the RNC chair, he was a successful fundraiser.
* Entertainer Kid Rock published an online message yesterday, reflecting on a potential U.S. Senate campaign in Michigan next year, saying he "will be scheduling a press conference in the next 6 weeks or so to address this issue amongst others, and if I decide to throw my hat in the ring for US Senate, believe me ... it's game on." The entertainer, who supported Trump's campaign, would almost certainly run as a Republican.
Donald Trump's 'fine-tuned machine' descends into chaos
I generally don't care about warring factions and personalities in the West Wing. I do care, however, when a White House slips into chaos, due entirely to officials' own incompetence and ignorance.
Take this morning, for example.
An escalating White House war between two top advisers to President Donald Trump entered a new stage Thursday after Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci lobbed a grenade of leak accusations that were seen as an attack against chief of staff Reince Priebus.
The fracas began Wednesday night after Politico published Scaramucci's financial disclosure forms from his employment at the Export-Import Bank, where the former financier had a post before being tapped last week as Trump’s new communications director last week.
Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, insisted that "the leak" of his financial disclosure forms was "a felony," and he intended to pursue the matter with the FBI and Justice Department.
He also called into a live CNN broadcast this morning to suggest Reince Priebus was responsible. "So if Reince wants to explain he's not a leaker, let him do that," Scaramucci said.
There was, however, no leak. The financial-disclosure materials, first noted by Politico, are public documents, obtained through a simple records request.
In other words, this strange drama was sparked by Scaramucci -- who enjoys telling people he went to Harvard Law School -- not knowing what he was talking about.
The larger point, however, has less to do with who in the White House is feuding with whom, and more to do with the fact that the White House itself, after just six months, is slipping deeper and deeper into chaos.
Cornyn says process 'is about as open and transparent as it gets'
Much of what Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) has said during the health care fight is better left ignored, but he made one observation yesterday that stood out for me.
"People keep talking about a secret process. Well, this is about as open and transparent as it gets, and everybody will have an opportunity to offer an amendment, to discuss what's in the amendment, and to vote on it."
I suppose it's possible that Cornyn literally doesn't know the meaning of the words "open" and "transparent," but it's far more likely that the Senate Majority Whip is trying to gaslight the public.
It's a dynamic that requires no exaggeration or hyperbole. Senate Republicans this week began a floor fight on a health care proposal they had not yet written. While amendments are usually offered as a way to improve legislation, GOP leaders invited senators to introduce amendments on a bill they haven't read -- not because they're lazy, but because it's impossible to read a bill that does not exist.
At this point, the Senate Republican leadership continues to craft a secret measure, behind closed doors, making changes along the way following secret deals.
A vote on the GOP plan is imminent, despite the fact that no one, including senators themselves, knows anything about the bill's contents. Indeed, even now, no one can say with confidence if the bill has even been written.
House GOP rep uses colorful language to blast Senate's Murkowski
Earlier this week, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) expressed his frustration with "some female senators from the Northeast" who've refused to vote to take health care benefits from millions of Americans. "If it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style," Farenthold added.
The Texas Republican later apologized, but we nevertheless saw Rep, Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) on MSNBC yesterday, expressing a related sentiment. The Georgia congressman reflected on Donald Trump's criticism of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), over her skepticism of the party's regressive health care plan. It led Carter to say this on the air:
"I think it's perfectly fair. Let me tell you, somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass."
First, there's a problem when House Republican men use violent rhetoric in reference to Senate Republican women.
Second, before yesterday afternoon, I'd literally never heard the phrase "snatch a knot in their ass," and I have absolutely no idea what it means.
White House struggles to defend Trump's ban on transgender troops
By some accounts, White House officials actually thought Donald Trump's new ban on transgender troops would be a political winner for them.
That, of course, was before the policy was denounced by members of Congress from both parties. And before the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs said they hadn't been notified of the change. And before veterans' organizations denounced the pointless discrimination against active-duty soldiers.
But perhaps the most amazing moment in the rollout of Trump's ridiculous new rules came during Sarah Huckabee Sanders' press briefing yesterday, when the president's principal spokesperson struggled to explain what the policy was and how it would work -- because she simply did not know.
A reporter asked whether transgender Americans already in uniform would be kicked out of the military. Sanders didn't know. Another asked, "How does it maintain or improve unit cohesion to leave thousands of servicemembers, some who may be overseas, serving in units overseas, in the dark about their status within the military?" Sanders couldn't answer that, either.
As the questions continued, the White House press secretary threatened to simply walk away from the podium unless reporters changed the subject.
"Guys, I really don't have anything else to add on that topic. As I do, I'll keep you posted. But if those are the only questions we have, I'm going to call it a day."
Ordinarily, when a White House unveils a new policy, affecting thousands of Americans, there are more than just a few tweets on the subject. There's supposed to be a briefing on the details of the policy, along with some background materials, and often an opportunity to hear from relevant officials within the executive branch.
But in Trump World, everything is ... different.
Kansas' Brownback abandons his mess, prepares to join Trump admin
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R), having made a dreadful mess of his home state, isn't sticking around to clean it up. The Kansas City Star reported:
Gov. Sam Brownback will give up the governor's mansion in Topeka to take a relatively obscure ambassadorship after seeing his power and popularity severely diminished in the last year.
The Kansas Legislature overrode Brownback's veto to repeal his signature tax cuts a little more than a month before President Donald Trump selected him to serve as the next ambassador at-large for international religious freedom, a position based in Washington, D.C., where Brownback spent 16 years as a member of the U.S. House and Senate.
The far-right governor's departure marks the end of an error. After taking office, Brownback launched a radical economic "experiment" after taking office seven years ago, and it failed spectacularly. As regular readers know, the far-right Kansan, working with a GOP-led legislature, cut taxes far beyond what the state could afford, slashed public investments, and waited for prosperity to flourish across every corner of the state.
None of that has happened. Not only have Kansas' job growth and economic growth rates lagged behind neighboring states, but the state's budget is in shambles, and Kansas' debt rating has been downgraded multiple times.
The Kansas City Star spoke to Joy Koesten, a Republican state representative, who said it will likely take a very long time to undo the effects of Brownback's tenure.
"I don't think we truly know what that is yet," Koesten said. "I think we've seen the surface damage, but I don't know that we've seen the depth of the damage. And I think it's going to take us a decade or more to figure that out and to fix it. So if that's a legacy, I'm not sure that it's a positive one."
Ouch.
Is the Trump admin threatening Alaska over health care politics?
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has been one of the more consistent skeptics of her party's health care crusade, and Donald Trump has made no secret of his frustrations with her principles. The question, however, is just how far the president is prepared to go in expressing his dissatisfaction.
The Alaska Dispatch News, the state's largest newspaper, published a striking report overnight on the Trump administration's Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, reportedly calling both of Alaska's Republican senators yesterday, alerting them to the fact that Murkowski's position on health care "had put Alaska's future with the administration in jeopardy."
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said the call from Zinke heralded a "troubling message."
"I'm not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop," Sullivan said.
"I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans.... We're facing some difficult times and there's a lot of enthusiasm for the policies that Secretary Zinke and the president have been talking about with regard to our economy. But the message was pretty clear," Sullivan said. The Interior secretary also contacted Murkowski, he said.
Note, we're not talking about an anonymous source raising serious allegations. This is a sitting Republican senator, describing a conversation he had yesterday with a Republican cabinet secretary in a Republican administration. And according to Dan Sullivan's account, Trump's Interior secretary was "pretty clear" that the White House is prepared to play a dangerous game of hardball with Alaska's future.
It's a nice state you have there; it'd be a shame if something bad happened to it.
In effect, the Alaska Dispatch News has described a scenario in which Trump wants Murkowski to punish Alaskans (by voting for a radical health care plan) or he'll punish Alaskans (by using the Department of the Interior).
Wednesday's Mini-Report, 7.26.17
Today's edition of quick hits:
* Amazing progress: "Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who was critically wounded after a gunman opened fire at a congressional baseball practice in June, has made progress in his recovery and was discharged from a Washington, D.C., hospital on Tuesday."
* Did Donald Trump ban transgender troops in order to advance a spending bill with money for his border wall? It's an explanation that would answer some questions.
* Ugh: "President Trump lumped the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah among militants and terrorists he praised the government of Lebanon for fighting, saying during Rose Garden remarks Tuesday that the tiny Mideast nation was "on the front lines" of a shared battle against extremism. The only problem? Hezbollah is a political partner of the man standing next to Trump, visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri."
* Disheartening, but not surprising: "Republican Trey Gowdy acted behind closed doors like a lawyer for President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, during questioning Tuesday by the House Intelligence Committee, said the top Democrat on the panel. 'Mr. Gowdy took the role as a second attorney for Mr. Kushner,' Adam Schiff of California told reporters."
* Brian Benczkowski: "President Trump's nominee to lead the Justice Department's criminal division told senators Tuesday that he once represented a Russian bank that was alleged to have a Trump Organization connection, but he cast that representation as a routine part of his legal work and forcefully asserted that he would be an independent and fair-minded law enforcement official."
* But what are they prepared to do about it? "Republican senators have Attorney General Jeff Sessions' back. The GOP lawmakers are furious over President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on their former colleague and are letting the attorney general -- and the public -- know that they stand with Sessions in the face of the president's broadsides."
Strike Two: Senate Republicans fail again on ACA repeal vote
Senate Republicans voted last night on Mitch McConnell's latest health care proposal, which needed 60 votes to advance, but managed to receive just 43. This afternoon brought us Strike Two.
The Senate rejected a proposal Wednesday that would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act and provided a two-year delay for lawmakers to develop a substitute, indicating that in the immediate future Republicans can only muster a majority for modest changes to the current law.
In two separate votes over the course of less than 24 hours, lawmakers have rejected different approaches to rewriting the landmark 2010 law known as Obamacare.
Today's measure, the "Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act," commonly known as "repeal and delay," needed 50 votes, but ended up with 45. In all, seven Senate Republicans -- Collins, Heller, Murkowski, Alexander, Capito, McCain, and Portman -- broke ranks and opposed the legislation, which garnered 55 "no" votes.
And as a matter of public policy and public health, that's an encouraging development. This bill, which passed the Senate in 2015 when Republicans knew their vote was largely for show, would have repealed the Affordable Care Act in the short term, and then set a two-year deadline for Congress to figure something out. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently found that this bill would push 32 million Americans into the ranks of the uninsured over the next decade, include 17 million Americans just within the next year.
In fact, before we move on, let's pause to note how amazing these circumstances are. We're talking about a bill that would take coverage from 32 million people, repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with nothing, and 45 Republican senators voluntarily said, "Yep, that sounds good to me."
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About The Rachel Maddow Show
Launched in 2008, “The Rachel Maddow Show” follows the machinations of policy making in America, from local political activism to international diplomacy. Rachel Maddow looks past the distractions of political theater and stunts and focuses on the legislative proposals and policies that shape American life - as well as the people making and influencing those policies and their ultimate outcome, intended or otherwise.
