The GOP is back with attempts to raise healthcare premiums for sick people:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/33 ... ealth-bill
House Republicans are circulating the text of an amendment to their ObamaCare replacement bill that they believe could bring many conservatives on board.
According to legislative text of the amendment obtained by The Hill, the measure would allow states to apply for waivers to repeal one of ObamaCare’s core protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
...
Specifically, the amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) allows states to apply for a waiver from ObamaCare’s “community rating,” requirement. If that were repealed, insurers would be allowed to charge people with pre-existing conditions much higher premiums due to their illnesses, putting coverage out of reach for some.
EDIT: Also, White House threats to cut off ObamaCare payments as early as May and destabilize the insurance market:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/33 ... elosi-call
White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney threatened to cut off crucial ObamaCare payments as soon as next month on a call with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Tuesday night, according to an aide familiar with the discussion.
Canceling the payments to insurers, known as cost-sharing reductions (CSRs), would cause chaos in the insurance market. The payments are the subject of ongoing litigation, with a judge ruling them unconstitutional last year because Congress had not appropriated the money.
..
If Mulvaney follows through on his comments, then that would raise the pressure on Congress to appropriate the payments so that they are not canceled, as the administration is threatening.
Top congressional Republicans, though, are resisting funding ObamaCare payments in the spending bill, leading to a standoff.
Deepening troubles for Flynn on the Russia issues, and a refusal to cooperate by the White House:
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... bles-mount
The leaders of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday said the former national security adviser might have broken the law by accepting payments from Russia and Turkey, and later by misleading the government about them...
Flynn’s troubles deepened Tuesday, when House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) gave a damning review of Pentagon documents they viewed that morning...
According to Chaffetz and Cummings, the documents showed that Flynn did not disclose a paid speaking engagement in Russia when he applied to renew his security clearance, nor did he seek permission to accept the funds. As a retired military officer, Flynn is prohibited under the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution from accepting payment from a foreign government without advance permission from both the secretary of State and the secretary of the Army. ..
The panel is also seeking a wide swath of documents from the White House related to what Flynn reported when he was vetted to become national security adviser. But the White House is refusing to provide that information, calling the request “extraordinary.”
...
The refusal to cooperate has left unanswered questions about the extent to which the White House was aware of Flynn’s activities.
Trump seems to want a trade war with ... Canada?
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ith-canada
Canada has become the surprise No. 1 target in President Trump’s push to get tough on trade.
Trump fired the opening shots of a potential trade war this week by slapping a tariff of up to 24 percent on Canadian softwood lumber imports. He also threatened action to protect U.S. dairy farmers, which could complicate any future talk of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The moves escalated a spat between neighbors that typically have one of the friendliest cross-border relationships in the world...
Trump and his advisers on Tuesday downplayed concerns about a broader trade war with Canada. “No,” the president told reporters when asked if he fears one. “They have a tremendous surplus with the United States. Whenever they have a surplus, I have no fear.” ...
Despite the massive goods exchange between the United States and Canada, the relationship is relatively balanced. The U.S. only had a $15 billion trade deficit with Canada in 2015, according to the U.S. trade representative...
Experts say the moves could signal a tougher renegotiation of NAFTA than Trump signaled back in February.
“These irritants could have a negative affect on the NAFTA negotiations,” said Dawson. “The biggest concern is the agreement is ripped up entirely. It could really destabilize how all of us do business.”
Open feuding with judges again:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... ary-cities
The White House on Tuesday tore into a San Francisco judge's ruling blocking enforcement of President Trump's sanctuary cities order, saying the judge "unilaterally rewrote immigration policy for our Nation."
A judge on Tuesday granted preliminary injunctions to block Trump’s January order to withhold federal funds from cities that refuse to comply with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws.
Trump won't let the American Bar Association evaluate its judicial nominations:
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/t ... erican-bar
The Trump administration recently announced that it will not permit the nonpartisan American Bar Association to play its traditional role of evaluating judicial candidates before they are nominated....
For over half a century, the ABA has played a key role in the federal judicial nomination process. The ABA’s 15-person screening committee contacts dozens of lawyers and judges about a potential nominee’s qualifications,focusing on three critical factors: competence, integrity, and temperament. They do not assess a candidate’s politics or judicial philosophy. After the ABA review is complete, candidates are assigned one of three ratings: Well Qualified, Qualified, and Not Qualified. The rating is not made public unless the candidate is nominated...
President Bush was the first president since Eisenhower to take the ABA out of the pre-nomination process because his administration disagreed with the ABA’s policy positions, which have nothing to do with the judicial screening committee. While the vast majority of Bush judges received a passing grade, seven were rated Not Qualified. But that information didn’t come out until four to six weeks after the nominations were made ... As a result, the Senate confirmed four of the seven Bush judges rated Not Qualified.
A sobering editorial from an official who experienced the Cold War behind the scenes.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/f ... -more-real
I have lived most of my adult life during the Cold War, and, throughout, I never lost sight of one overwhelming reality — at any time, the Cold War could turn hot, resulting in the extinction of our civilization. Now, inexplicably, we are recreating many of the conditions of the Cold War. In fact, I believe that, today, the likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe is actually greater than it was during the Cold War...
In 1979, I personally experienced one of the false alarms in the U.S., and it changed forever my way of thinking about nuclear dangers. I was awoken at 3 a.m. by the watch officer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) saying that the computer was showing 200 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) on the way from the Soviet Union to the United States.We were spared a disaster because the watch officer correctly concluded that the computer was giving a false reading — as it turns out, due to human error.
But what if that false alarm had occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis? In that context, the watch officer surely would have passed the alarm on to the president, who, after being awoken at 3 a.m., would have had less than 10 minutes to decide whether to launch our ICBMs before they were destroyed in their silos.
Another Trump administration ethics violation
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/330327 ... lic-outcry
A State Department website has removed a blog post about President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort following criticism over ethical concerns.....
The blog, initially posted on ShareAmerica, a State Department platform used for sharing what it describes as "compelling stories," detailed the history of Trump’s “Winter White House.”
It immediately led to concerns that the U.S. government was promoting Trump's private resort.
This is a description of the Mar-a-Lago promotion.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... mar-a-lago
The blog, posted on April 5, details the history of the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and notes that the founder willed the estate to the U.S. government in 1973. Founder Marjorie Merriweather Post "spared no expense" when constructing the resort in 1927, it continues, and she intended it to be used by U.S. presidents to "entertain visiting foreign dignitaries."It also says President Trump is "belatedly fulfilling the dream of Mar-a-Lago’s original owner and designer" by using the resort to host foreign leaders like China's Xi Jinping.
....
The web page does not make clear, however, that the federal government returned the resort to Post's estate or that Trump purchased the resort in 1985. Trump's critics have raised questions since his inauguration about conflicts of interest that could benefit his business holdings while he's in office.