This week, senators moved to salvage the Obamacare subsidies Trump cut – but Washington remains confused over which way the president is swinging
Chuck Schumer was at the gym when his phone rang, just over a week after the latest version of the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act foundered. It was Donald Trump calling the most senior Democrat in the Senate with an idea.
Related: Senators reach bipartisan deal to salvage Obamacare subsidies Trump eliminated
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McConnell and Trump put on show of unity as Bannon urges Republican ‘war’
- President says he and Senate leader are ‘closer than ever before’
- ‘He is failing’: Trump strikes out solo as friends worry and enemies circle
Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell appeared side-by-side in the Rose Garden after lunch at the White House on Monday in a show of solidarity after the president’s former chief strategist called for the metaphorical assassination of the Senate majority leader.
Trump insisted he and McConnell are “closer than ever before”, despite publicly criticizing the Republican leader for the Senate’s failure to enact the president’s legislative agenda, including Republicans’ failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which Trump called a “disgrace”.
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Bannon says Trump will ‘blow up’ Obamacare as subsidies cut stokes fires
- Moderate Collins and Democrat Murphy decry cut to low-income help
- Trump responds to healthcare critics with claim ‘millions’ will benefit
A day after Steve Bannon seemed to confirm Donald Trump’s intent to destroy the Affordable Care Act (ACA), saying the president was “gonna blow that thing up”, a Republican senator who helped dynamite two Republican replacement bills said Trump was hurting American citizens.
Related: Steve Bannon renews call for war on Rep...
Trump responds to critics of healthcare order with claim ‘millions’ will benefit
The president tweeted Saturday that he’s ‘very proud’ of executive order, despite analysts, politicians and others saying millions of people would in fact suffer
Donald Trump on Saturday heralded his latest moves to undermine Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, tweeting that “millions of people” would benefit from his executive order on access to cheaper insurance and his scrapping of federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Related: 'He is failing': Trump strikes out solo as friends worry and enemies circle
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Trump scraps Obamacare subsidies in surprise late-night announcement
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 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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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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