House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is getting ready to move an Obamacare repeal bill after weekend talks resolved outstanding issues with the bill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is getting ready to move an Obamacare repeal bill after weekend talks resolved outstanding issues with the bill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

GOP finalizes Obamacare repeal bill after weekend talks

House Republicans early this week will release the final text of a bill to repeal Obamacare and partly replace it, a GOP leadership aide said Monday.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee and Ways and Means Committee are expected as early as this week to mark up a measure that would repeal most of the law and replace it with tax credits and health savings accounts, among many other provisions.

According to the GOP aide, committee staff worked over the weekend with the White House "to tie up loose ends," and add "technical" input from the Trump administration.

"After months and years of work, we are quickly approaching the introduction of a consensus Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare," the aide said.

Despite disagreement from key conservative lawmakers who fear the measure will turn into another version of Obamacare, the bill is moving forward after a Friday meeting at the White House led by Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, which, according to the aide, resolved "the few outstanding issues."

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and key GOP lawmakers finalized the deal in a Saturday conference call.

"We are in a very good place right now, and while drafting continues, we anticipate the release of final bill text early this week," the aide said.

Republicans said they plan to vote on the measure in March.

Jim Inhofe: Trump's budget will stop EPA from 'brainwashing our kids'
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Jim Inhofe: Trump's budget will stop EPA from 'brainwashing our kids'

A top Republican senator said Thursday that President Trump's massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency will keep the country's environmental cop from "brainwashing" the country's children.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said on CNN that fears about what the budget cuts will mean for the EPA's ability to perform are unfounded. Trump has proposed a nearly 30 percent cut in the agency's funding, or roughly $3 billion.

Inhofe said he trusted the people now in charge of the agency under Trump to keep it functioning.

"We want to deliver the services and we want to make things clean," he said. "We're going to [get rid of] all this stuff that comes out of the EPA that's brainwashing our kids, that's propaganda, that's not

03/16/17 8:34 AM