Free Republic

The GOP’s first shot at fixing Obamacare was an absolute dumpster fire. Paul Ryan never bothered to get conservatives involved and it cost him big time. He couldn’t even get his Obamacare lite bill to the floor for a vote. Now, it looks like Mike Pence got involved in the negotiations and an agreement was made. "#BREAKING Sources tell me @mike_pence, @SpeakerRyan, @RepMarkMeadows and @RepTomMacArthur negotiated a possible amendment to the #AHCA." — Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbFBN) April 20, 2017 "#BREAKING The possible amendment is titled the "MacArthur Amendment" and sources tell me it could bring up to 15-20 new @freedomcaucus...

(CNN)Two sources close to the health care legislative process tell CNN the White House is exploring whether to take one more stab at repealing and replacing Obamacare before President Donald Trump hits the key milestone of 100 days in office late next week.The renewed effort comes as Congress returns from recess next week and as the Trump administration is fielding questions about its legislative accomplishments during its first 100 days in office.

MEMO FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: WHERE IS TRUMPCARE?Throughout the campaign you said that: 1. You were not a politician, you were a businessman skilled in negotiating. 2. Despite the claims of your critics you said that you were not a liar, that you would make good on all your promises. 3. You promised the country that you would repeal and replace Obamacare and repeatedly made the following statements to that effect: a. “We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare - and nobody can do that like me. We will save $'s and have much better healthcare!” b. “I’m going to work...

Dick Morris says what I have said for a couple of weeks. Obamacare really has been killed, and no one noticed. Trump told the IRS not to enforce the "individual mandate." That is the essential coercive element. No mandate, no O-care. Morris said he did this last week---in fact, I heard more than four weeks ago that the IRS was NOT enforcing this and just assumed it came from Trump. Second, the requirement that you buy from an "approved" insurance company---Trump waived that as well by telling HHS to approve any policy as "qualifying." Yes, some of the subsidies and...

In 2015, Congress passed Obamacare repeal. Now, a replica bill has sat unaddressed in committee since March 8th and there’s a path to getting it to a floor vote quickly. The Trump spin mill has been in overdrive since House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the abysmal first attempt of the new administration and Congress at the promised “repeal and replacement” of Obamacare. The Trump administration and the media sold the American Health Care Act as the last best hope for repealing Obamacare, which is a complete joke. The idea that Republicans in the House and Senate, who have largely run...

Congress approved on Thursday night an Obamacare repeal package that serves as a double-edged sword for Republicans: while a boon to conservative senators running for president, it could jeopardize some of their GOP colleagues running for reelection in swing states in 2016. The Senate voted, 52 to 47, on Thursday night to repeal large portions of Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. The repeal was wrapped inside a budget reconciliation bill that needed a simple majority of 51 senators to make good on a longstanding promise to voters that a GOP-led Congress would eliminate large portions of Obamacare. But after months...

Just as we predicted, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a report demonstrating that the “too-clever-by-half” approach of RINOcare will result in the worst possible outcome for insurance prices and coverage numbers. It’s clear that by exacerbating the death spiral of the existing failed market before 2020, the political reality will ensure that even the minor reforms implemented to Medicaid and the exchange subsidies in 2020 will never occur. And the disaster will all be blamed on a wrongly-perceived Obamacare repeal bill instead of Obamacare itself. Full repeal is the only solvent way forward.

I grow weary, beyond weary really, with the “but the Democrats” crap. And I shouldn’t be alone. We just had an election — Democrats got trounced. There are fewer Democrats in the legislative branch across the country since before the Great Depression. There is a Republican president to go along with those legislative majorities as well. Democrats lost more than 900 seats nationwide during the Obama years. The Democrats are literally in disarray and powerless. 1. Let me repeat that — the Democrats are literally powerless. Republicans have all the political and parliamentary power to do pretty much whatever they...

Even before Congressional Republicans revealed their plan to replace Obamacare on Monday, many conservatives had expressed concerns that the bill would become "Obamacare Lite" — more a modification than a full "repeal and replace." For those unsatisfied with the health reform blueprint, President Donald Trump tweeted an answer Tuesday morning. "Don't worry, getting rid of state lines, which will promote competition, will be in phase 2 & 3 of healthcare rollout," the president declared via Twitter. Follow Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Don't worry, getting rid of state lines, which will promote competition, will be in phase 2 & 3...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pulled out a surprise map during his town hall debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on CNN Tuesday night to make a point about the problems facing Obamacare. Cruz argued that in 70 percent of counties in America, consumers have a choice of one or two health insurance plans on the Obamacare exchanges.

Chris Wallace continues the David Brock (Media Matters) talking points via his Fox News Sunday interview with victorious Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway...

Candidate Ted Cruz and candidate John Kasich have officially “suspended” their campaign efforts to win the republican nomination. However, the campaign effort to deliver a resounding win for Donald Trump continues.Yes, a major hurdle has been crossed – Donald Trump is now the last remaining candidate running for the nomination; but that doesn’t mean the push through the last remaining states should be any less important. Every vote counts. Every delegate matters.Anyone who is inclined toward complacency needs only to look at the reaction yesterday by House Speaker Paul ‘Omnibus‘ Ryan and note why it is vital for the...

On Tuesday, the largest private health insurance provider in the U.S., United Healthcare, announced that it would be pulling its plans out of the ObamaCare exchanges in all but a few states. Among a continuing string of bad news for President’ Obama’s Affordable Care Act, this one should stand out as an indicator that the ACA’s collapse is accelerating. Conservatives need to be ready to explain why and to present solutions, because advocates for fully socialized medicine will be ready to turn the collapsing exchanges to their advantage. All of the deficiencies in Obamacare’s structure have been well documented. High...

Over the past 28 years there has been a sea change in the media. Not only has the monopoly of the so-called mainstream media been shattered but the phenomenal rise of conservative media has been truly stunning. It began in 1988 with the national syndication of Rush Limbaugh and his distinctive brand of conservative political commentary espoused in an entertaining and captivating way, which opened the flood gates for other conservatives, together with Rush, to dominate the talk radio airwaves. In the 1990’s the internet, through hundreds of websites, gave voice to journalists to report stories either ignored or downplayed...

and "Rent boy Marco Rubio."

DRUDGE SIREN: SEN. SESSIONS TO ENDORSE TRUMP No link to a website yet

Perhaps today will mark the beginning of a new phase in the long campaign for the GOP nomination for president in 2016. That’s possible because two of the leading candidates — Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Florida senator Marco Rubio — have offered serious plans for replacing Obamacare in its entirety. (In Senator Rubio’s case, he reiterated in an op-ed the principles of a plan he outlined several months ago.) They, along with Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, are now the candidates who can speak most credibly about what’s wrong with Obamacare, because they have actual plans to do something about...

Can Obamacare be repealed, in its entirety, through the budget reconciliation process? Some Republican leaders were hopeful that they would not be forced to answer that question. With a decision in King v. Burwell looming, it became increasingly clear that they planned not to keep the promise they had made in their budget to use reconciliation to repeal Obamacare. Instead, they would use it for some kind of response to the expected decision. In that environment, questions about the feasibility of repealing Obamacare using reconciliation were put on the back burner. But with the Supreme Court’s unexpected and indefensible ruling...

“Today, after more than 50 votes in Congress to repeal or weaken this law, after a presidential election based in part on preserving or repealing this law, after multiple challenges to this law before the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act is here to say,” President Obama said on Thursday after the Supreme Court upheld the state subsidies provision in the Affordable Care Act. In other words, time for Republicans to give up the fight against the health law. But appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, Rep. Paul Ryan seemed unfazed. Ryan said the current law is not fixable, and,...

Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) introduced an “Obamacare Repeal Act” that would repeal the Affordable Care Act “as if such Act had not been enacted.” The text of Cruz’s bill to repeal the 2,700-page law — which spawned another 10,000 pages of regulations — barely runs onto the third page. It comes as Republicans have debated whether to use a procedural tactic that circumvents filibusters known as reconciliation to repeal the legislation. “This repeal bill is pro-growth, pro-jobs, and pro-liberty,” Cruz says in a statement on the bill. “It provides time for Congress to start over, to pass true market-based...