Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump To GOP Lawmakers: Gutting ACA Is Political 'Risk,' But Now Is Time For Swift Action
Reuters: Trump Tells Republican Lawmakers: Enough Talk. Time To Deliver
President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers on Thursday for swift action on a sweeping agenda including his planned U.S.-Mexican border wall, tax cuts and repealing the Obamacare law, despite tensions over timetables and priorities. Congressional Republicans were in Philadelphia for a three-day retreat to hammer out a legislative agenda, with the party in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade. (Cowan and Cornwell, 1/26)
The Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump And Republicans Strain To Set Agenda
Less than a week into the new administration, GOP lawmakers grappled with how to respond to a Republican president capable of signing their policy proposals into law but also of igniting public feuds and showing little deference to Capitol Hill’s traditions. “This is going to be an unconventional presidency,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) told reporters. “That’s something we’re just all going to have to get used to.” But Mr. Ryan also said, “We are on the same page,” referring to the agenda the president and Republican lawmakers are pursuing. (Peterson and Rubin, 1/26)
The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: As GOP Sketches Ambitious Goals In Philly, Trump Keeps Them Guessing
Even as the lawmakers opened their three-day retreat hoping to build a sense of shared purpose, the new president continued to overshadow them, dominate attention, and at times wrong-foot fellow Republicans with his free-swinging style. The same day Congress' top Republicans spoke about repealing the Affordable Care Act and overhauling the tax code -- perhaps within months -- President Trump grabbed the spotlight by issuing executive orders aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, and on Twitter announced a "major investigation" to prove his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. (Tamari and Fitzgerald, 1/26)
The Hill: Trump Tells GOP He Thought About Leaving ObamaCare Alone
President Trump on Thursday acknowledged to a roomful of congressional Republicans that there is a political “risk” to gutting ObamaCare, and that he contemplated leaving the healthcare law alone for two years. Trump then said that Republicans must quickly repeal and replace the law to prevent it from imploding, but his doubts were striking given that Hill Republicans, for the past seven years, have made it their top mission to roll back ObamaCare. (Wong, 1/26)
Bloomberg: Republicans Are Making Little Progress On Their Obamacare Repeal Strategy
No precise plan has emerged because “we are still developing what this thing is going to look like,” Senator Jim Risch of Idaho told reporters Thursday. Republicans tried to put a happy face on their meetings, but they made little tangible progress. The chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady of Texas, said "We’re just working really productively right now so no timetable’s been set." (House, 1/27)
Kaiser Health News: At Party Retreat, GOP Still Searching For Health Law Consensus
Rank-and-file Republicans said they are coalescing around a strategy that would not have a single replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Instead they foresee a combination of changes they can make to the law through a budget bill that only requires 51 votes in the Senate, regulatory action and executive orders by the Trump administration, and individual bills addressing smaller aspects of the health system that will follow later. “If you’re waiting for another 2,700-page bill to emerge, you’re going to have to wait until the sun doesn’t come up, because that’s not how we’re going to do it,” Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told reporters, referring to the length of the Affordable Care Act. “There’s no single fix. There’s no single plan.” (Rovner, 1/26)
