Free Republic

“Something tells me McCain, he’s staring death in the face right now, so he’s probably going to make good choices. He’s not going to bend to political pressure,” Cartwright told a town hall audience at Scheller Center at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Tamaqua, PA.

WASHINGTON — With Senate Republicans already bogged down over how to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, President Trump on Friday tossed in a new complication with an old idea: The Senate could repeal the health law now, then replace it later. Mr. Trump gave his blessing in a Twitter post after a Republican dissatisfied with the current repeal bill, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, floated the two-stage approach as a backup plan. Mr. Sasse sent a letter to the president and made a pitch on Fox News on Friday as an agreement on a new version of the Senate’s repeal...

Today’s Morning Joe aired a mock anti-Republican ad that its staff created. Scarborough said he told “the kids in the back that work for us” to “draw up an ad that will look like what we’re going to see next year.” As you’ll see from the video clip, the ad is predictable campaign fare, focusing on the Republican health care bill. Pre-existing conditions coverage disintegrates. Medicaid is “slashed.” And, of course, “huge tax cuts for the rich,” with images of President Trump against a backdrop of yachts and mansions. The ad ends with the disclaimer: “not an actual ad, but...

When did the word “optics” enter the political lexicon? In any case, the Morning Joe crew today ripped the look of the Republican Rose Garden ceremony of yesterday at which President Trump and House members celebrated the passage of their health care bill. Donny Deutsch said they were “a bunch of fat, middle-aged, rich white guys.” When Willie Geist mentioned that Mika had said that the photo looked like a golf course ribbon cutting, Joe Scarborough interjected: “it’s a country club with restrictive membership. Obviously, you have to be white, and a male, to be there.” View the video here.

RUSH: Let’s get to some of the details of this bill. And this is in as simple language and explanation as I can make it. It’s a side-by-side comparison of what was in Obamacare and what’s changing, what’s being kept, and what’s being removed. Now, under Obamacare, the individual mandate requires people who can afford it to go out and buy health insurance. This House Republican bill repeals that. Kind of. Kind of. Because there is a caveat. It is repealed. However, there are penalties in the House bill, the Republican bill, if you don’t have insurance. Well, they’re not...

House Republicans will vote on an amendment to eliminate the exemption for Congress and their staff members from changes to Obamacare. The amendment, H.R. 2192, would eliminate an exemption for changes to Obamacare regulations that impact health insurance premiums and coverage. The proposed amendment would allow states to obtain waivers to repeal Obamacare regulations such as essential health benefits and community ratings. Congresswoman Martha McSally (R-AZ) sponsored H.R. 2192, which has 83 cosponsors—all of them Republican. House Republicans look to attach the amendment to the American Health Care Act as part of their Obamacare repeal package. Obamacare required that Congressmen...

Joe Scarborough spent the first half-hour of today’s Morning Joe blasting White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon for the failure of the health care bill. Excerpts: “I will call Steve Bannon a hack. When you go in and threaten members, you’re not only a hack, you’re stupid at your game . . . Bannon failed miserably. He is the biggest loser.” “The stupidity of Steve Bannon knows no end.” “He’s an idiot when it comes to how Washington works.” “He blew this.” View the video here.

Should conservatives be rooting for the health care bill to pass the House today, or be defeated or withdrawn? Joe Scarborough made an interesting observation today, quoting the late Senator Paul Simon at the end of his career on the biggest lesson he had learned: "sometimes when you win, you lose. And sometimes when you lose, you win." Scarborough pointed to the way Democrats whooped it up when they "won" on Obamacare in 2010 . . . and proceeded to experience six years of political "hell," losing 1,000 seats across the country. Opined Scarborough, "I think the best thing that...

President Trump delivered an ultimatum to House Republicans on Thursday night: Vote to approve the measure to overhaul the nation’s health-care system on the House floor Friday, or reject it and the president will move on to his other legislative priorities. The president signaled that the time for negotiations was over with rank-and-file Republicans who were meeting late at night on Capitol Hill to try to find common ground on the embattled package crafted by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). The move was a high-risk gamble for the president and speaker, who have both invested significant political capital in...

The legislation that House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Trump embraced to repeal and replace Obamacare was already being dogged by criticism from deeply conservative members in the House. But now it faces an emerging challenge: more moderate Republicans distancing themselves from the bill after the Congressional Budget Office concluded it would result in 24 million more people being uninsured than under the Affordable Care Act. Some senators are already suggesting this bill has little chance of passing in Congress’ upper chamber. But it may not get even there. An informal FiveThirtyEight count suggests two huge challenges for getting the...

President Donald Trump told reporters that a “big fat beautiful negotiation” was underway on the proposed house health care bill, after a growing number of conservatives have voiced dissent with the effort. “We’re negotiating with everybody,” Trump said. “It’s a big fat beautiful negotiation and hopefully we’ll come up with something that’s going to be really terrific.” Trump made his remarks during a meeting with his cabinet at the White House — although four of them have yet to be confirmed by the Senate. During remarks to reporters, Trump thanked Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for working “around...

Washington, DC—Representative James Lankford (R-OK), Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, today introduced the House Joint Resolution legislative proposal for the Health Care Compact, a breakthrough governance reform that allows states to clean up the health care mess created by the federal government. “The Health Care Compact is a way for states to protect their residents from the top-down, one-size-fits-all health care ‘solutions’ that have been imposed from Washington DC, including Obamacare,” said Lankford. “The compact transfers health care decision-making authority and responsibility from the federal level to member states. Those member states are then free to implement their...

Just look at the video and then make your comments. I will be supprised if this dosent get a CWII ping before the 10th response. Know the TRUTH about the Government Health Care Bill H.R.3200 - Key Points I have to go load some more ammunition, and will be back when the powder runs out. Semper Fi An Old Man

The United Federation of Teachers -- one of President Obama's key political backers -- is the biggest beneficiary of a White House sweetheart deal that will exempt certain outfits from complying with new health-care rules, officials revealed yesterday. The quietly approved federal waivers for 30 companies, health insurers, unions and other groups across the country means the UFT doesn't have to gradually phase out caps on annual health coverage like everyone else. The UFT was concerned that could have been a major financial hit on the union. The one-year waiver, approved last month by the Department of Health and Human...

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” President Obama, September 12, 2008 Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income, including the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income. In February 2010, 5.02 million homes were sold, according to the National Association of Realtors. On any given day, the sale of a house, townhome, condominium,...

Democrats Run From Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill As Election Hopes Fade Washington, DC -- With the national fortunes of Democrats fading in the November elections thanks to President Barack Obama's poor performance and an American public opposed to the pro-abortion, government-run health care bill Congress approved, some of the 34 who voted against the measure are running from it. http://LifeNews.com/nat6678.html

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God" (emphasis mine). Congressional Oath of Office www.senate.gov I am one of those people that think words mean something. I spend a great deal of my day with...

President Obama has selected Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Berwick is a Harvard professor, a pediatrician, and the CEO of a nonprofit that, according to its website, has a staff of over 100 people. These seem like dubious qualifications to head a massive organization with a budget greater than that of the Department of Defense. As Jeffrey Anderson explains, however, Dr. Berwick is a perfect pick for Obama. For like Obama, Berwick believes that our health-care system should be run through Washington, and that the bureaucracy should exercise a strong degree of control...

Remember this?(Video of Pelosi: "We have to pass the bill so you can see what's in it.")Cato’s Chris Edwards has found another of Nancy Pelosi’s surprises in ObamaCare, and this one’s a doozy. We have already noted the strange assignment of health-insurance approval to the IRS, an agency with no expertise in the field whatsoever. Now it appears that the IRS will have to hire a lot more people to track an avalanche of paperwork, too: Most people know about the individual mandate in the new health care bill, but the bill contained another mandate that could be far more...

Remember when the radical left wing, including our President, as well as the squishy, gutless Republican “moderates” lost their minds when Sarah Palin said she wasn’t all that happy to know that her special needs son and aging parents would have to stand before Obama’s “death panels” and be evaluated before they received care? Yeah, me too.