Federal payments underpinning healthcare scheme unlawful, says White House, in move that takes a further swipe at Democrats’ signature reform
Donald Trump has planted a timebomb under Obamacare, issuing a notice late on Thursday night that scraps vital federal subsidies underpinning the current healthcare system.
Related: Trump accused of sabotage after signing executive order to weaken Obamacare
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Trump chief of staff John Kelly: ‘I’m not quitting, I’m not getting fired’
- Chief of staff makes surprise appearance to deny he’s about to leave
- ‘Although I read it all the time pretty consistently, I’m not quitting today’
Donald Trump’s chief of staff has made an extraordinary public appearance to deny that he is about to resign or be fired.
Related: Trump accused of sabotage after signing executive order to weaken Obamacare
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Trump signs executive order to weaken Obamacare – video
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to weaken Obamacare by making lower-premium plans more widely available. Trump is relying on the executive order because the Republican-controlled Congress has been unable to pass a plan to repeal and replace the Obama-era healthcare law
• Trump accused of sabotage after signing executive order to weaken Obamacare
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Trump accused of sabotage after signing executive order to weaken Obamacare
- President says move means ‘people will have great, great healthcare’
- Democrats say Trump using a ‘wrecking ball to rip apart our health system’
Donald Trump was accused of sabotaging the Affordable Care Act on Thursday when he used an executive order to unilaterally weaken Obamacare following months of failed attempts by Republicans to repeal it.
Related: Trump substantially weakens Obamacare contraception mandate
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Repealing and replacing Obamacare ‘off the table’, says Chuck Schumer
Senate minority leader addresses Affordable Care Act after tweet from Trump saying the two discussed measure and possibility of ‘great’ new bill
Repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is “off the table”, Chuck Schumer said on Saturday, after Donald Trump tweeted that he had spoken to the Senate minority leader to see if Democrats were interested in helping pass “great” healthcare legislation.
Related: The Trump-Russia dossier: why its findings grow more significant by the day
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Jeff Sessions issues directive undercutting LGBT protections
The Sessions directive effectively lifts a burden from religious objectors to prove their beliefs about marriage or other topics are sincerely held
The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, on Friday issued a sweeping directive that undercuts federal protections for LGBT people, telling agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are violated.
Related: Trump substantially weakens Obamacare contraception mandate
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Trump substantially weakens Obamacare contraception mandate
Many more employers allowed to opt out of requirement to cover birth control without copay in move that could cause thousands of women to lose coverage
The Trump administration has dramatically expanded the number of employers allowed to flout the Affordable Care Act (ACA) policy that requires company healthcare plans to cover contraception at no additional cost.
Related: White House drafts rule to roll back 'contraception mandate' for health coverage
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Trump’s tax reforms are a bigger gift to business than most expected | Joseph Stiglitz
The Republicans’ proposals dodge necessary changes and will leave the country with a mountain of debt
Having failed to “repeal and replace” the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), Donald Trump’s administration and the Republican congressional majority have now moved on to tax reform. Eight months after assuming office, the administration has been able to offer only an outline of what it has in mind. But what we know is enough to feel a deep sense of alarm.
Tax policy should reflect a country’s values and address its problems. And today, the United States – and much of the world – confronts four central problems: widening income inequality, growing job insecurity, climate change and anaemic productivity growth. America faces, in addition, the need to rebuild its decaying infrastructure and strengthen its underperforming primary and secondary education system.
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The Resistance Now: joy at Republican health defeat – but there’s still work to do
In this week’s resistance news: protesters jubilant as effort to repeal Obamacare officially declared dead, while activists in Flint, Michigan target Nestlé
It took thousands of phone calls, nearly 200 arrests, and a belated show of courage from a small number of Republican senators, but the GOP’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act finally failed – for the time being – on Tuesday.
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What Trump did this week: health bill fails (again) and NFL row flares up
The president kicked off the week with a spat over black NFL players’ protests, while Republicans bungled their final (for now) attempt to repeal Obamacare
- Each week Trump seems to make more news than most presidents do in a lifetime. The Guardian is keeping track of it all in this series every Saturday
Having whipped up a national row over black NFL players’ protests in a Friday-night speech in Alabama, Trump, clearly convinced he was on to a winner, continued to poke at the wound all weekend. Players hit back in unprecedented numbers by kneeling, locking arms or staying in the tunnel during the national anthem. Whether the president chose to spark the controversy as a distraction from difficulties with North Korea or the Republicans’ flailing healthcare bill, or to shore up his rightwing base following doubts among the faithful about his attempts to cut an immigration deal with Democrats “Chuck and Nancy”, the effect was to drown out the original reason for the protests – racism and police brutality – and reframe the issue as one about patriotism. Trump planted himself cynically and effectively on the side of the flag, the military and The Star-Spangled Banner.
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