The debate over the future of the American healthcare system blossomed once again over the weekend as a potential vote on new Senate legislation loomed in the coming week.
On the Sunday shows, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway disputed whether the cut in Medicaid spending in the GOP healthcare plans is actually a cut. She argued it’s just a decreased rate of spending, not an actual cut. Estimates show about $834 billion would be cut from Medicaid in the next decade under the House’s American Health Care Act.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price thinks the five GOP senators who have announced their opposition to the bill don’t understand the full administration plan.
In the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer thinks there’s a 50-50 chance of the Senate GOP’s healthcare plan passing. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., thinks the odds are a bit better and the bill can get done this week.
That passage could be eased along if Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul goes from a “no” to a “yes,” which he signaled is possible in an interview.
However, Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., were more lukewarm about the bill.
Johnson doesn’t want to vote this week because he doesn’t think he, or his constituents back in the Badger State, have had enough time to review the legislation.
Cassidy, who sounded positive toward the bill earlier in the week, said he’s now on the fence about the legislation. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel reminded Cassidy on Twitter he promised to abide by the “Kimmel test” for new legislation, which states no one should be denied treatment because they can’t afford it.
Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran was asked what he felt in his gut about the bill’s chances and the best he could come up with was “I don’t know.”
On the other side of the aisle, Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders defended the Democrats’ heated rhetoric against the bill — calling Republicans the “Party of Death,” the tax cuts “blood money” and stating thousands of people would die if it passed — by saying it’s all accurate based on independent analysis.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse managed to stay out of the fray all together, announcing he had nothing to announce during a talk in Colorado.
Some clarity may emerge on who’s in and who’s out on the Senate bill early in the week: The Congressional Budget Office is set to release its analysis of the bill at some point Monday.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich doesn’t believe there’s enough resources in the bill as currently written to help states like the Buckeye State.
Jonathan Gruber, architect of Obamacare, said he doesn’t believe the Affordable Care Act is failing, but the fact that insurers are dropping out of individual states shows there’s a dynamic market.
It was a quiet weekend on the White House front aside from a series of tweets from the president on a number of topics. He appeared to indulge in a bit of nostalgia for the 2016 election, tweeting a number of times about the Democratic primary and Hillary Clinton’s race versus Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Trump also confirmed he called the House healthcare bill “mean” during an interview with Fox & Friends that was taped on Friday and aired over the weekend. He also used the interview to call on Democrats to work with Republicans on healthcare, even if he knows it will never happen.
However, that concern about the bill having enough “heart” doesn’t stop Trump from being ready to single out and push Republican senators who stand against the party on the healthcare vote.
Trump also made some waves by skipping the White House’s traditional dinner to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama had all had the dinner each year during their administrations since 1996.
In deep state news, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Trump is an “avid” reader of intelligence who meets with him regularly. He added that he’s planning stopping and punishing leakers soon.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said President Obama “should have done a lot more” to combat Russian meddling in the 2016 election during his time in office.
Trump is also facing some opposition from the deep climate state over his plans to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement and focus more on producing fossil fuels.
His son, Eric, hit back at actor Johnny Depp after Captain Jack Sparrow made a joke about assassinating his father during a music festival earlier in the week, telling Depp to “go back to making movies.”
The Washington Examiner’s Pete Kasperowicz was in Colorado Springs at a meeting hosted by the Koch brothers that featured a number of prominent politicians and celebrities.
Deion Sanders, the former football and baseball star, was there to defend the Kochs and said helping the country is “what they do.”
The Kochs also argued it’s time to punish bad federal employees and Charles Koch gave a speech to donors Saturday focusing on how to give people the freedom and opportunity to contribute to society.
In another speech Sunday, Koch warned the nation is in danger if lawmakers don’t resolve the gap between the rich and the poor, which he called a “two-tiered society.” He also thanked Harry Reid for criticizing him so much, which made his book sell better.
Prominent senators in attendance included Sasse, Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, among others.
A prominent official in a Koch-backed group told federal lawmakers to look at the states when thinking of inspiration for big reforms. Sean Lansing, chief operating officer of Americans for Prosperity, said voters are rewarding politicians who make big reforms. Americans for Prosperity argued it’s immoral to expand Medicaid further.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters at the conference the border adjustment tax is becoming the central question in tax reform debates.
Back in Washington, rumors kicked up about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy possibly retiring after an event for his former clerks was made public. No announcement came on that front during the weekend.
Sanders and his wife, Jane, are under siege after a report on shady business dealings on behalf of Burlington College published over the weekend. The couple has been under an FBI investigation since January 2016 and has hired lawyers.
The fight over the future of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as leader of congressional Democrats remained up in the air this weekend as well. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, called it a “family discussion” among Democrats.
Looking abroad, the British Parliament is in cyber trouble after hackers went after emails of elected representatives over the weekend.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also warned Gulf states boycotting Qatar that some of the demands they’ve made of the besieged nation are not feasible.
Sticking in the same region, the White House had to shoot down rumors that senior aide and son-in-law to the president Jared Kushner isn’t going to be removed from Middle East peace talks after a rough outing with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
A controversial diplomat is set to the leave the U.S. after fully making his impact felt in Washington: Sergey Kislyak is being recalled back to Russia after 10 years as the Kremlin’s ambassador to the U.S. Kislyak had numerous controversial dealings with Trump associates in recent months.
Sen. Tom Cotton, a powerful ally for the administration in the White House, wants “regime change” to be the official American policy on Iran. That’s something the White House has been considering, much to the chagrin of the Iranians.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer issued a statement condemning a series of terrorist attacks in Pakistan on Friday that left more than 80 people dead.
There was some drama in media circles as well during the weekend.
Fox News host Sean Hannity told conservative commentator Ann Coulter to “cut the BS” after Coulter alleged she was censored in an interview on his show. Hannity said Coulter had to be cut off because she was going over time.
CNN suffered another embarrassment when the network had to retract a report linking a Trump transition official to the Russian government. That story led to CNN changing up some of its reporting procedures on future Russia stories.
Spicer also told Fox News it’s “sad” that some reporters are criticizing his changes to the style of the daily press briefings, which include making them off-camera and holding them less frequently.
