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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Guardian World News
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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It’s easy to take the simplest things for granted | Jessica Valenti
I was reminded of this as communities in Puerto Rico, Mexico and beyond struggle with devastation
Today is the seven year anniversary of the day my daughter first breathed without medical assistance. It was six weeks after she was first born, and to be able to see her face - without tubes, without fear that she would stop breathing and turn blue - was one of the best moments of my life as a mother.
I’ve been thinking about this day a lot these last few weeks, as the latest Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare failed, and as communities in Puerto Rico, Mexico and beyond pulled together to try to help each other in the aftermath of devastation.
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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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Trump says he is willing to work with Democrats on healthcare reform
President says he expects a vote on healthcare next year and says he may issue a ‘major’ executive order to allow the purchase of insurance across state lines
Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was open to working with Democrats on healthcare, following the collapse of yet another Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Trump claimed that the GOP could corral enough votes to pass the measure – a last-gasp effort to deliver on a central campaign promise of the last seven years – but not in time for this week’s deadline, after which 60 votes would be needed instead of 51.
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Senate Republicans admit defeat in latest effort to repeal Affordable Care Act
Senate leaders admitted they did not have the votes to pass a bill, hours after Trump railed against ‘certain so-called Republicans’ for refusing to vote for it
The latest Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act died on Tuesday as Senate leaders admitted they did not have the votes to pass a bill which would rob millions of health insurance.
The admission of defeat came from Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the sponsors of the bill after party discussions over lunch on Capitol Hill left them in no doubt that their slim majority could not survive a revolt.
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Republican plan to defeat Obamacare looks doomed as Susan Collins says no to bill
- Maine senator calls bill ‘deeply flawed’ and says she will not vote for it
- Number of Americans with cover would be ‘reduced by millions’, CBO finds
The latest Republican bill to repeal Obamacare appears doomed to fail after a key senator came out strongly against it within minutes of an analysis which said the plan would strip health insurance from “millions” of Americans.
Moments after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a partial analysis of the Republicans’ plan, Maine Senator Susan Collins announced she would not vote for the bill, and called it “deeply flawed”.
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Trump attacks McCain and other Republicans over healthcare failure
- President says veteran Republican senator has ‘let Arizona down’
- McCain seemed to have dashed GOP hopes of repealing Obamacare
Donald Trump went on the attack on Twitter on Saturday morning over the latest failure of the Republican-controlled Senate to pass healthcare reform.
Related: 'All hands on deck': protesters to target healthcare bill at rallies across US
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McCain says no on healthcare | The minute
- Arizona senator says he can’t vote for Republican plan to replace Obamacare… DeVos scraps Obama rules on investigating campus assault… and more
- Get the day’s politics news in 60 seconds every weekday. By Tom McCarthy
Senator John McCain said the latest Republican plan to dismantle Barack Obama’s healthcare law did not pass his test for “regular order” and he would be voting no, likely ruining the bill’s chances for passing.
McCain’s chance to do the right thing
I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition. Far from it. The bill’s authors are my dear friends and I think the world of them.
– Senator John McCain
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