Steve Bannon tried to bully the Freedom Caucus into backing Obamacare replacement bill
In the days leading up to the Obamacare replacement non-vote it became quite clear that the conservatives–namely the Freedom Caucus–were not happy and wanted changes. Eventually they were able to get a couple of small concessions but not nearly enough to win any of them over.
It became pretty clear that Paul Ryan and the establishment Republicans were not going to budge and if this story is true it turns out Steve Bannon basically dared the conservatives to vote against this bill–basically trying to bully them into voting in favor of a piece of legislation they did not agree with. Here is more:
White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon told a group of House conservatives they had no choice but to back the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal bill days before the bill was pulled, according to a new report.
Bannon confronted members of the House Freedom Caucus earlier this week during the White House’s push for the American Health Care Act, Axios’s Mike Allen reported Saturday in his newsletter.
“Guys, look. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill,” Bannon reportedly said.
But of course this is the Congress and debate is what the Congress does, they did have a choice and they exercised it and Steve Bannon’s attempt at bulling the Freedom Caucus backfired. Perhaps Donald Trump and Steve Bannon can learn a valuable lesson from all of this with the realization that they are going to have to work with the conservatives in the Congress if they want to get anything done. They cannot just dictate what they want and expect to get it.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Obamacare replacement bill pulled from the floor
For the second time in two days the establishment Republicans’ Obamacare replacement bill was pulled from the floor with out a vote, it now appears as if this will be off the table for quite some time if it comes back at all.
It is interesting that after almost 8 years and 60+ votes held and passed to repeal Obamacare that when the Republicans actually had a chance to do so they failed. The Republicans passed dozens of full repeal bills when they knew there was no chance of them passing yet when they had the chance to actually repeal Obamacare they did not offer a full repeal bill and it failed. Why is this?
Obamacare replacement bill vote cancelled
I am sitting in the airport in North Carolina waiting for my flight to Key West, I have a couple of hours to kill, and I just saw that Paul Ryan was forced to cancel the vote on the Obamacare replacement bill which was scheduled for later tonight.
Here is more:
President Donald Trump and conservative House Freedom Caucus members failed to strike a deal on the GOP Obamacare replacement Thursday, endangering the prospects of passage and all but assuring any immediate vote on the measure would fail.
Hours later, House leaders canceled a planned Thursday night vote on the legislation. There was no immediate word when a vote might occur.
This comes after Donald Trump met with the so-called freedom caucus but was unable to come up with a deal. When told there would be no more negotiations before the vote the result of the vote was ensured and Paul Ryan has suffered a major blow to his credibility as House leader. The freedom caucus stared down Paul Ryan and the Speaker blinked.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Open thread: ‘Key West Song’
Well, early tomorrow morning Lauri and I will be headed to Key West for a long weekend vacation and we will be back late Monday night. I might do some posting in the mornings while we are away if I find anything interesting enough to draw my attention before Lauri wakes up in the mornings.
So here is an open thread for you to post whatever you would like to in my absence.
frui diem
Intelligence Committee Chairman claims Donald Trump’s transition team was under surveillance
Earlier today Devin Nunes made the claim that he had information which shows that Donald Trump’s transition team was indeed under surveillance. If this is true it could vindicate Donald Trump’s accusation from a couple of weeks ago.
Here is more:
Representative Devin Nunes said Wednesday that the intelligence community collected multiple conversations involving members of Trump’s transition team during legal surveillance of foreign targets after he won election last year. After Nunes went to the White House to brief Trump, the president told reporters “I somewhat do” feel vindicated by the latest development.
Nunes said he was “alarmed” to discover that the identities of Trump aides were revealed in intelligence community documents. “Details with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in an intelligence community report,” he said, adding that he didn’t know if Trump’s “own communications were intercepted.”
The vote on the Obamacare replacement legislation (I have decided to stop calling it the Obamacare repeal legislation even though “replacement” does not seem to be the proper term either) is scheduled for Thursday but will that vote actually take place?
We know the Democrats are going to vote against the legislation en masse so the only question is how is the Republican vote going to break down? Paul Ryan insists he has enough votes to pass the bill, however Rand Paul disagrees and today he said there are at least 35 Republican who will vote against it. He also claims that Paul Ryan will be forced to pull the bill, here is more:
According to this story the House Republicans are going to release changes to the Obamacare repeal legislation later on tonight. Here is more
House Republican leaders are poised to release Monday evening an expansive series of changes to their Obamacare repeal bill in a last-ditch attempt to win enough support to get the bill passed.
Requested by President Donald Trump, the amendment includes perks for restive conservatives who wanted optional work requirements and block granting in Medicaid, as well as a potential olive branch to wary centrists who demanded more help for older Americans to buy insurance, POLITICO has learned.
Here is what we can expect:
The possible wiretapping of Trump Tower has become a big issue with the left and the mainstream media since the President made the accusation a couple of weeks ago. Clear minded people understand that Donald Trump mis-tweeted when he used the term “wiretapped” because it is pretty clear he meant Trump Tower was under surveillance. This does not excuse the President but it does provide the left with fodder to ignore the real problem.
We know that somebody was conducting surveillance because that person released the transcripts of a conversation Michael Flynn had with a foreign ambassador. The real question here should be, who is criminally leaking transcripts of a private conversation?
Earlier today Rand Paul explained the real problem of low level government employees being able to “unmask”Americans and he nailed the true crux of the issue.
Here is the video:
Back in December the Republican Congress passed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016 which granted Flint, Michigan $100 million to help rebuild its water system infrastructure in the wake of the disaster which poisoned the water. Today Donald Trump’s EPA made it official, here is more:
The Environmental Protection Agency awarded Michigan $100 million in grant money to replace the Flint water system’s damaged infrastructure.
The Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016 provided the funding for this grant that would help Flint replace its lead water pipes that have fallen into disrepair, the EPA said in a statement.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said this grant is part of the Trump administration’s goal to improve the country’s water infrastructure.
“EPA will especially focus on helping Michigan improve Flint’s water infrastructure as part of our larger goal of improving America’s water infrastructure,” Pruitt said.
Here is what Michigan Governor Snyder had to say:
America's Watchtower 