33 Republicans who would not budge from their decisions to vote “no” on the health care bill were key to causing its collapse. They can be divided into three broad categories:
15 Hard-liners
10 Moderates
8 Other Republicans
Treasury Will Invoke ‘Extraordinary Measures’ as Debt Ceiling Looms Again
Cash-management steps will allow Treasury to pay bills until Congress raises borrowing limit
Analysts expect those cash-management steps will allow the Treasury to pay bills that come due without issuing new debt until this fall, depending on the strength of Treasury receipts this spring and summer. After that, Congress would need to raise the borrowing limit or risk the U.S. missing certain payments.
GOPers Preemptively Trash CBO Before It Scores Their O’care Replacement
“The CBO is consistently inconsistent,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told TPM. “They can’t predict the actual results of a 10-year window, because life changes so quickly. So I don’t put that much weight on a CBO score.”
Over on the House side, Rep. David Brat (R-VA) laughed when TPM asked about the rush to mark up the bill without knowing its cost or impact. “The CBO, they’ve scored everything wrong for decades,” he said.
.. Asked whose report he would rely on if not that of the non-partisan office, Thompson replied, “Trust me, this bill will be subject to all kinds of alternative analysis.”
.. Standard & Poor’s estimated that 2-4 million people would drop out of the individual insurance market due to rising premium costs, and that another 4-6 million would lose their Medicaid coverage. The Brookings Institution estimates that as many as 15 million people could lose coverage, largely because the repeal of the individual mandate would drive up costs for those who remain insured.
Dave Brat Urges Delay on Speaker Vote; A ‘Better Way’ Did Not Animate This Historic Election
Before lawmakers cast their vote, candidates for GOP leadership ought to identify the specific policy agenda they plan to enact in response to the mandate that the American people gave Congress with the election of President-elect Donald Trump, Brat says.
Brat explained that Speaker Ryan’s “Better Way” agenda is not what “animated this historic insurgent election”.
.. “While I am a fan of much of the ‘Better Way’ agenda, it is not what fueled or animated this historic insurgent election,” Brat added. “’The Better Way’ is a very rational set of policy prescriptions put forward by Speaker Ryan, a policy expert, but our leadership has acknowledged that Trump saw something they missed. The ‘Better Way’ agenda has been in play for a year now– yet Trump saw something new. So what was it?
.. “While I am a fan of much of the ‘Better Way’ agenda, it is not what fueled or animated this historic insurgent election,” Brat added. “’The Better Way’ is a very rational set of policy prescriptions put forward by Speaker Ryan, a policy expert, but our leadership has acknowledged that Trump saw something they missed. The ‘Better Way’ agenda has been in play for a year now– yet Trump saw something new. So what was it?
.. We’re being asked to vote on the Speaker on our first full day back in D.C. And it is absurd to think that we have processed the full meaning and implications of this seismic election in less than a week.”
.. Why the rush? Let’s slow down, think and properly plan this so we get it right. Look at what happened in the last two years when we didn’t make our agenda absolutely clear to the American people. If we rush this Speaker election, the American people will feel manipulated once again. This is no time to undermine morale and do an end-run around them.
.. Conservatives have noted that Ryan’s personal policy agenda was “rejected” on November 8th– particularly his views on immigration, trade and crime. According to polling data, Ryan’s open borders vision on immigration and trade is opposed by roughly 9 in 10 GOP voters.
.. It is unclear whether members of the House Freedom Caucus and conservative lawmakers—including Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, Jeff Duncan, Jim Bridenstine, Brian Babin, Steve King, Matt Salmon, Alex Mooney, Gary Palmer, Barry Loudermilk, John Fleming and others—who voted for Ryan last year, will vote to elect him again as House Speaker on Tuesday.