House Republicans fail to round up enough votes to pass legislation before Trump’s 100-day mark
GOP lawmakers’ hopes had risen this week when Rep. Tom MacArthur (R., N.J.) introduced an amendment that won over many of the House’s most conservative Republicans.
.. “Protections for those with pre-existing conditions without contingency and affordable access to coverage for every American remain my priorities for advancing health-care reform, and this bill does not satisfy those benchmarks for me,”
.. The bill also would significantly cut spending for Medicaid, a major concern of centrist Republicans in both the House and Senate.
.. With federal waivers, states could let insurers charge higher premiums to some people with pre-existing conditions. That would apply only to people who had let their coverage lapse, a measure that aims to ensure people stay insured. And the higher premiums would generally only last for about 12 months before decreasing.
.. House leaders had argued that GOP lawmakers in tight races next year would benefit from having kept their repeated campaign pledges to repeal the ACA.
“We promised that we would do this,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said Thursday. “If you violate your promise, if you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics, that’s the greater risk, I think, to a person’s seat.”
The privilege to fail
The effects of income level on risk aversion has been well-studied in behavioral economics and psychology — individuals who earn incomes below the poverty line tend to be significantly more risk averse compared to those who are better off.
.. many low-income or first-gen students have been so focused on education and upward mobility that they have not had a chance to reflect on who they are, what they really want and the path to achieving their ambitions. This sets them apart from peers who have had leisure time and constant encouragement to develop those aspects of themselves. College, in this sense, can be a chance for first-gen students to come into their own.
But as they’re trying to understand their calling and purpose for the first time, as Rodriguez put it, being held up as “model citizens” in their communities back home can be a barrier to breaking out on their own, said Umaña.
.. Black women startup founders receive on average $36,000 in venture funding while white men receive $1.3 million.
.. Anarcho-capitalism, or the complete absence of government, is the ultimate goal of the blockchain technology movement.
.. . Halper thinks his technology can upend polling, burn down political boundaries and create a network of college campuses. Ericsson and Lawrence want to reform the internet because they believe in its potential to erase governments and and redefine the way people share, sell, connect and live
Behind United Airlines’ Fateful Decision to Call Police
Airline’s rules-based culture in spotlight after man was dragged off flight by law enforcement
.. Deviating from the rules is frowned upon; employees can face termination for a foul-up, according to people familiar with the matter... At United, this has helped create a rules-based culture where its 85,000 employees are reluctant to make choices not in the “book,”.. At least some decisions that led to the crisis were fueled by employees following rules.. Last Sunday evening, Republic Airways Holdings Inc., the regional airline operating the flight for United, asked an hour before departure for four of its crew members to take the place of passengers, according to a person familiar with the matter. The crew was needed the next day at the flight’s destination in Louisville, Ky., the person said.. But the two pilots and two flight attendants didn’t arrive at the gate until a few minutes before departure, according to United’s pilots union. All the passengers were already seated... In hindsight, the gate agent should have said, “Folks, we’re not leaving until someone gets off. If someone doesn’t take the $800, we’re going to cancel the flight,” said the United pilot, who wasn’t involved in the incident.
.. People close to United said the rules-based calculus is to inconvenience the fewest number of fliers... United hasn’t provided its front-line managers and supervisors with “the proper tools, policies, procedures that allow them to use their common sense.”“That’s on me,“ he said. ”I have to fix that... Decades-old union conventions that enshrine seniority over performance are part of the problem, one former executive said, because employees are rewarded for their tenure rather than their talent.
.. Mr. Munoz also said United will change its former policy of asking law enforcement officers to remove passengers from its flights—unless it is a matter of safety and security... But Mr. Milton added that Dr. Dao’s mistreatment and United’s flat-footed reaction must become “a defining moment in the history of United Airlines pivoting to customer service and customer delivery.”