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RUSH: By the way, folks, while all of this is going on, the health care bill status over in the Senate’s looking very, very bad. You see what Rand Paul has said? Has a written a piece — I saw it at Breitbart — and I think he’s trying to get people’s attention with this. But he’s saying if anybody’s paying attention, Obamacare is staying, the essential health benefits are staying, Obamacare taxes are staying, nobody wants to do anything about it, and it’s all a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The insurance companies are gonna have to be bailed...

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker cautioned that a health care bill proposed by U.S. Senate Republicans would cost 264,000 state residents their health coverage and have a cumulative negative impact of more than $8.2 billion on the state by 2025, while Sen. Edward Markey described defeating the bill as the legislative fight of his life. In a letter to the state's all-Democrat Congressional delegation, Baker, a Republican, wrote that the bill would "increasingly strain the state's fiscal resources, result in greater numbers of individuals without insurance and destabilize the commercial insurance market." He separately joined Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in urging...

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing the Republican health care bill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he would vote for a partial repeal of Obamacare, but the current bill was “not anywhere close to repeal.” Paul said, “I’ve been telling leadership for months now that I will vote for a repeal and it doesn’t have to be a 100 percent repeal. For example, I’m for 100 percent repeal, that’s what I want, but if you offer me a 90 percent repeal, I’d probably vote for it. I might vote for 80 percent repeal.”

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that he thinks the Senate healthcare bill “looks too much like Obamacare.” Senator Rand Paul joined Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) in opposition to the Senate bill. The coalition of conservative senators argue that the legislation does not do enough to repeal Obamacare. Senator Paul explained his opposition to the newly released Senate healthcare bill: I think the bill looks too much like Obamacare. It really doesn’t look like a repeal bill. It looks like we’re keeping Obamacare, it keeps probably 100 percent...

News on Tuesday that on-camera interviews might be significantly curtailed within the Capitol is an on-the-nose manifestation of something that had otherwise not attracted a lot of attention: The Republican effort to replace Obamacare was being put together almost entirely outside of the public’s ability to see what was happening.

Three gay men say they have gained legal recognition as the first 'polyamorous family' in Colombia, where same-sex marriages were legalized last year. Actor Victor Hugo Prada and his two partners, sports instructor John Alejandro Rodriguez and journalist Manuel Jose Bermudez, have signed legal papers with a solicitor in the city of Medellin, establishing them as a family unit with inheritance rights.

Puerto Rico's governor is vowing to make the U.S. territory the 51st state after statehood won in a non-binding referendum hit by a boycott and low turnout that raised questions about the vote's legitimacy. Gov. Ricardo Rossello told a couple hundred supporters waving U.S. flags late Sunday that he will soon create a commission to appoint two senators and five representatives to demand statehood from the U.S. Congress, which has to approve any changes to the island's political status.

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney revealed Friday that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged him to think about being President Trump's secretary of State. Romney, who is also the former governor of Massachusetts, made the comments at his annual political summit in Park City, Utah. While he was a vocal Trump critic during the presidential campaign, Romney was under consideration to be Trump’s secretary of State before Trump picked Rex Tillerson, who was then serving as CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. Romney said he would have been willing to serve as the country’s top diplomat if Trump offered...

There is no such thing as free college tuition. While it may be free for the fortunate few who get a free college education, somebody pays for it, somebody always pays. And if you are wondering who that somebody is, all you have to do is look in the mirror. So, it would be refreshing if free-stuff politicians, like Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a Democrat -- the mix-and-match couple of Massachusetts politics -- actually took the time to thank the people who make their free-stuff giveaways possible. W

Few provisions within Obamacare have proved less popular than the individual mandate, which requires all Americans to secure insurance or pay a fine. Unfortunately, some Senate Republicans are proposing a replacement that's even worse. As part of their bid to repeal Obamacare, Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, want to allow states to automatically enroll the uninsured in health plans. At least Obamacare let people choose whether to buy health insurance or not. Sens. Cassidy and Collins are calling for an even heavier dose of government paternalism, one that would increase federal spending, line the pockets of insurers,...

In this country, you have the right to believe the lie that homosexuality and gender confusion are healthy, normal, or natural. But you don’t have the right to make others live that lie. Yet, apparently, some Massachusetts legislators think they do. That’s what’s at stake with a bill on Beacon Hill that would ban so-called “conversion therapy,” which consists of a therapist offering advice and techniques about how to leave behind same-sex attraction or transgenderism. ...

Senate Republican leaders outlined a “very liberal” ObamaCare replacement bill during their weekly lunch with their members on Tuesday, sources said. “The moderates are very happy,” an aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), one of the Senate’s most conservative members, told The Post. “It was a very liberal bill.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters that the upper chamber is “getting very close to having a proposal to whip and to take to the floor” on health care. His comments came after the leaders met with President Trump at the White House to discuss health care reform. According...

Saturday, The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin predicted on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” that the Democrats will take control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections and then move to impeach President Donald Trump. Host Joy Reid asked, “I want to do a quick round robin and take your guys’ temperature on the likelihood of impeachment — impeachment with Republicans leading it, impeachment with Democrats leading it, or no impeachment at all.(snip)

On Saturday’s Say Yes to the Dress, Kleinfeld bridal salon welcomes its a first polygamous throuple: Jennifer, her fiancé Peter and Peter’s wife Ellen. In an exclusive clip from the episode, Jennifer explains to consultant Debbie Asprea how she became ready to say “I do” to a man who’d already walked down the aisle.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. He said in his written recusal released on March 2. "Having concluded those meetings today, I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States." Any existing or future investigations. Related in any way. Sessions consulted with the president and coordinated the firing of James Comey. Recall that Comey had testified on March 20 that he was heading the Russia investigation: "I've been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that...

House GOP leaders are expressing confidence that the Republican-sponsored American Health Care Act (AHCA) to repeal and replace Obamacare will pass Thursday afternoon, though it will face an uncertain path in the Senate. House vote on the new health care bill - how to watch "This will pass," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, told reporters as he left a closed-door meeting with the House Republican Conference. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, also seemed confident that the bill would pass.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a damages lawsuit against Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who in 2015 refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples because it conflicted with her Christian beliefs. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said a lower court judge erred in finding that damages claims by David Ermold and David Moore became moot, after a new state law last July excused clerks like Davis, from Rowan County, from having to sign marriage license forms. While the couple eventually did get a license, a three-judge appeals court panel said they could...

Their timidity on Obamacare repeal has made them a national laughingstock. "....Yet the party that ended slavery and successfully championed women’s suffrage, both in the face of violent Democratic opposition, can’t muster the courage to repeal even the worst provisions of the Affordable Care Act. This cowardice has now inspired the law’s apologists to openly mock the GOP and President Trump."

Full title: Rep. Weber at U.S. Capitol: 'Father, We Have Trampled' on 'Holy Matrimony' and 'Called It an Alternative Lifestyle' During a lengthy prayer event in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, House Representative Randy Weber (R-Texas) begged God to forgive lawmakers and judges for taking the Bible out of the classroom, for "trampling" on "holy matrimony" with same-sex "marriages," and for "killing the most innocent amongst us" and "calling it a choice."

"We're going to go when we have the votes," Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday when asked when the House will pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Lawmakers will not be constrained by any "artificial deadline," Ryan declared. On March 24, when the Speaker pulled the GOP Obamacare bill before what would have been a sure defeat, he said, "We're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future." But why? Republicans have 238 seats in the House. Repealing Obamacare will require 217 votes. Even with unanimous Democratic opposition, Republicans could lose 21 votes and still prevail on...