Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
McConnell, Trump Bicker Over Who's To Blame For Health Care Failure
The Associated Press: Trump Hits McConnell For Senate Crash Of Obama Health Repeal
President Donald Trump scolded his own party's Senate leader on Wednesday for the crash of the Republican drive to repeal and rewrite the Obama health care law, using Twitter to demand of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, "Why not done?" Trump fired back at the Kentucky Republican for telling a home-state audience this week that the president had "not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process." (8/9)
USA Today: Donald Trump Responds To McConnell: I Don't Have Excessive Expectations
In an interview this week, McConnell had blamed Trump for setting "early timelines" and "excessive expectations" as one of the reasons that people believe Congress is getting nothing done. But Trump said he didn't think he had "excessive expectations." "After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?" he said on Twitter. (Collins, 8/9)
WBUR: Trump, McConnell Point Fingers Over Health Care Failure
"Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before. And I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process," the Senate majority leader continued. "So part of the reason I think people feel we're underperforming is because too many artificial deadlines — unrelated to the reality of the complexity of legislating — may not have been fully understood." (Taylor, 8/9)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Criticizes McConnell For Failure To Advance Health-Law Reform
Separately, other Senate Republicans are increasingly becoming potential targets for Mr. Trump. The president wrote in a tweet last month that Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski “really let the Republicans, and our country, down.” She was one of the three who voted against the health-care measure. (Tau, 8/9)
Politico: Trump Vs. McConnell
The tit-for-tat between Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the chamber's failure to repeal Obamacare opens a politically perilous schism within a party already riven by tensions over its lack of accomplishments this year. (McCaskill and Schor, 8/9)
In other news about President Trump —
Boston Globe: Former N.H. Senator Wants Commission To Determine Trump’s Mental Health
A former Republican US senator from New Hampshire is urging his state’s Congressional delegation to pass legislation that would set up a commission to determine President Trump’s mental health. If Trump were found by this commission to be unwell he could be removed from office. (Pindell, 8/9)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Clinic Facing New Pressure To Abandon Planned Gala At Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago
The last time complaints came in, President Donald Trump was pushing to block citizens of Syria and other Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States -- a policy affecting physicians, medical students and their families. The Cleveland Clinic said sorry, plans were already set. It was not going to cancel its February, 2017 ball and fundraising gala at the elegant, Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago estate and club in Palm Beach, Florida. (Koff, 8/9)
