Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
GOP Turns Attention To Tax Reform, But Grand Plans Take A Blow From Health Law Failure
The New York Times: Dealt A Defeat, Republicans Set Their Sights On Major Tax Cuts
Picking themselves up after the bruising collapse of their health care plan, President Trump and Republicans in Congress will start this week on a legislative obstacle course that will be even more arduous: the first overhaul of the tax code in three decades. Mr. Trump’s inability to make good on his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act has made the already daunting challenge of tax reform even more difficult. (Rappeport, 3/26)
The Associated Press: Failure On Health Bill Also Hurts Prospects For Tax Overhaul
House Republicans' failure to repeal Barack Obama's health care law deals a serious blow to another big part of President Donald Trump's agenda: tax reform. Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., say they will soon turn their attention to the first major re-write of the tax code in more than 30 years. But they will have to do it without the momentum of victory on health care. (Ohlemacher, 3/25)
Politico: White House Looks To Rack Up Wins After Health Care Calamity
After suffering its first legislative blow at the hands of the Washington establishment, the White House regrouped over the weekend with senior aides strategizing on ways to score their boss a few wins and reassessing future friends and foes. (Palmeri, 3/27)
CQ Roll Call: Setback On Health Care Repeal Could Scramble Budget Work
Republicans see tough work ahead on spending and budget negotiations following a bungled attempt to repeal Obamacare that exposed deep divisions between House moderates and hardline conservatives. But there is also a possible upside — if Republicans clear the decks of action on health care, that could break a legislative logjam when it comes to moving ahead on multiple pressing spending issues.(Mejdrich, 3/24)
Bloomberg: Trump's Retreat On Health Care Deals A Blow To The Rest Of His Agenda
The gambit was straight out of a corporate deal-maker’s playbook: President Donald Trump told House Republicans that it was now or never to repeal and replace Obamacare and demanded a vote by Friday. No more negotiations. It was a bluff, and a stubborn band of Republican lawmakers called him on it. Now Trump’s been struck with a humiliating defeat on his first major legislative test, and it’s a body blow that calls into question whether he can move his agenda through Congress, including proposals on tax reform and infrastructure spending that helped propel a stock market rally since his election. (Pettypiece and Jacobs, 3/24)
The Associated Press: GOP Controls Federal Government But Struggles To Govern
The Republican Party of "no" for Democrat Barack Obama's eight years is having a hard time getting to "yes" in the early Donald Trump era. The unmitigated failure of the GOP bill to replace Obamacare underscored that Republicans are a party of upstart firebrands, old-guard conservatives and moderates in Democratic-leaning districts. Despite the GOP monopoly on Washington, they are pitted against one another and struggling for a way to govern. (Beaumont and Barrow, 3/27)
The Hill: This Week: GOP Picks Up The Pieces After Healthcare Defeat
Republicans will try to figure out what comes next this week after the House GOP’s embarrassing setback in trying to pass long-promised legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Their seven-year campaign pledge to get rid of the 2010 law suffered a major blow after GOP leaders and President Trump couldn’t stop a revolt from conservatives and centrists. With the GOP healthcare plan dead, Republicans are quickly setting their sights on another challenging campaign promise: tax reform. (Marcos and Carney, 3/27)
CQ Roll Call: Health Care Bill Is Dead For The Year, Committee Leaders Say
Committee chairmen who oversee health care acknowledged that legislative efforts to revise the 2010 law are over this year after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan abandoned the Republican bill Friday. "This bill is dead," said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. "The president has said he's moving on, and unless he changes his mind, we're moving on," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas. "Obamacare is clearly still in place and it's continuing to collapse, and we worked very hard to avoid that." (Mershon, 3/24)
