Deal on Health Bill:‘We Have Enough Votes’ Says House G.O.P. Leader

From left, Republican Representatives Fred Upton of Michigan; Michael C. Burgess of Texas; Greg Walden of Oregon and Billy Long of Missouri spoke to reporters after discussing health care legislation with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times


WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders planned to hold a showdown vote Thursday on their bill to repeal and replace large portions of the Affordable Care Act after adding $8 billion to the measure to help cover insurance costs for people with pre-existing conditions.

“We have enough votes,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said Wednesday night. “It’ll pass.”

A breakthrough came earlier Wednesday thanks to an amendment proposed by Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, with the support of Representative Billy Long of Missouri, to add the money to the bill. The two Republican lawmakers had come out against the health care legislation, warning that it did not do enough to protect the sick, but they threw their support behind it on Wednesday.

President Trump blessed Mr. Upton’s proposal at a White House meeting with the two lawmakers as he pressed hard for a vote that could at least ensure House approval of the bill, which embodies one of his central campaign promises. The vote Thursday will carry enormous potential consequences  for millions of patients, for Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda and for Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who has failed twice in recent weeks to bring the bill to the House floor.

Tillerson presses for economic sanctions on North Korea in special UN meeting

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the escalating threat of a nuclear North Korea to the United Nations Security Council Friday, urging member countries to financially cut ties with Pyongyang and freeze access to funds that could be used to build up that nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Tillerson called on the international community to fully implement U.N. sanctions and to suspend or downgrade diplomatic ties as well with North Korea.

“With each successive detonation and missile test, North Korea pushes northeast Asia and the world closer to instability and broader conflict," Tillerson said. "The threat of a North Korean attack on Seoul or Tokyo is real."

More From The Significance of The Treaty of Rome

ON MARCH 25th the European Union’s heads of government will gather in the glorious Sala Degli Orazi e Curiazi of Rome’s Palazzo dei Conservatori to issue a solemn declaration of unity. The moment will be freighted with significance: exactly 60 years earlier, as expectant crowds huddled under umbrellas on the Piazza del Campidoglio outside, plenipotentiaries from six Western European countries France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg assembled in the same room to sign the Treaty of Rome.

The 1957 treaty established the institutions that made up the European Economic Community the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which was in time to become the EU. (A second treaty signed that day created the European Atomic Energy Community, later folded into the EU.) What was the significance of the Treaty of Rome?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posing with Veluppillai Thangavelu

TORONTO — A photo of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posing with Veluppillai Thangavelu, the former vice-president of a group on Canada’s list of outlawed terrorist organizations, has underscored the pitfalls of selfie politics.

Thangavelu, who was a senior official in the World Tamil Movement when it was the target of an RCMP investigation, posted a photo on Facebook showing he and Trudeau in Toronto last month.

Thangavelu also appeared in the background of a photo of Trudeau posted that same day on the Twitter account of the prime minister’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts. “Good people,” the caption read.

Surprise Announcement: Marine Le Pen steps down as Front National leader and claims to be 'candidate for all French people

Marine Le Pen made the surprise announcement on Monday night that she was stepping down as leader of the Front National, claiming it would allow her to represent better the interests of "all French people".

On the surface, at least, it seemed to change little about her approach to the country's problems. Visiting a wholesale market outside Paris on Tuesday, she declared that under her regime, the government would promote meat and produce reared in France, so "our children take advantage of our healthy, quality products".

"Let's promote the 'eating French' especially in [school] canteens," she said. She was promptly booed by some workers in the fruit and vegetables section.

The far-right candidate has been forced to take drastic action, giving up control of her father's political party, after she scraped through to the second round of the French presidential election nearly one million votes behind centrist Emmanuel Macron - despite leading in polls throughout the campaign.

Politics Today: Trump prepares executive order spree in dash to 100-day mark

President Trump has dismissed the end of his first 100 days in office as an “artificial” marker, but he’s packed the final stretch with a burst of executive orders and lofty legislative goals covering health care, tax reform and more.

Before Saturday’s deadline, Trump plans to sign at least four executive orders -- including one aimed at easing regulations on offshore oil and gas exploration and another to protect whistleblowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, under a microscope for failing to provide adequate patient care. Another would direct the Interior Department to review prior national monument designations.

Angela Merkel says she won't change course on refugees despite election rout

                                          Angela Merkel looks shaken as she addresses the media in Berlin in the wake of her poll humiliation Getty

Angela Merkel conceded that her “open door” policies on refugees had caused her ruling Christian Democrats to suffer humiliating losses to the xenophobic Alternative for Germany party in state elections, but the Chancellor insisted she would not change course on the divisive issue.

Speaking for the first time about her party’s rout, some 18 hours after polls closed on Sunday night, a visibly shaken Ms Merkel told a press conference in Berlin that her policies  which allowed more than a million refugees to enter Germany last year had determined the outcome of the weekend’s election.

Describing the result as a “bad day for the CDU [Christian Democrats],” she admitted that her policies had so far brought “no lasting solution” to the refugee crisis. However she said she was committed to finding a “European solution” to the problem during her meetings with the EU and Turkey later this week.

Still On Trump Inaugural: Palm Beach County’s Cline, Florida Crystals, NextEra, Geo gave big

Trump inaugural: Palm Beach County’s Cline, Florida Crystals, NextEra, Geo gave big

Coal-mining billionaire Christopher Cline of North Palm Beach is among three dozen or so contributors who gave at least $1 million to President Donald Trump‘s inaugural committee, according to a report filed this week.

Other big inaugural donors from Palm Beach County include West Palm Beach-based sugar giant Florida Crystals Corp. ($500,000), Juno Beach-headquartered NextEra Energy ($250,000) and private prison contractor Geo Corrections Holding of Boca Raton ($250,000).

Trump’s inaugural committee raised $106.8 million, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Politics Today: Kansas, Georgia Takeaway: Special elections results mixed in predicting future

Old-timers used to leaf through the Farmer’s Almanac to learn of prognostications for a blizzard churning around Valentine’s Day or to determine whether drenching rains would douse their fields come early May.

The Almanac’s soothsaying is said to rely on mathematical equations, tidal movements and the prevalence of sunspots.

Special elections are kind of like the political version of the almanac. Sometimes they unveil a lot about the upcoming political weather. Sometimes, not so much.

The former is why much of political Washington poured over the results in two House special elections of late. Pundits filleted and quartered every precinct and trend. These votes were the first barometer of the electorate since President Trump scored his stunning victory last autumn. It’s notable that these two Republican districts were even remotely in play.

A NEED TO PROTECT: He Observed The Earth From Space. Now He’s Trying To Protect It From The Ground.

 Leland Melvin hasn’t been to space since the beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency, but he’s sure glad to be back on Earth now.

The former NASA astronaut joined thousands Saturday on the National Mall for “the March for Science,” a mass protest against an array of President Donald Trump’s policies that critics say attack or dismiss critical scientific evidence.

“I’ve seen the planet from the vantage point of space,” Melvin, 53, told The Huffington Post, ducking into a tent to avoid the chilly drizzle outside. “It’s a beautiful planet, but there are a lot of things that are going on and, without the data, without the science, we’re going to decimate our planet.”

According to Washingtonpost Why People Are Marching For Science: ‘There is no Planet B’

Thousands of people gathered in the rain Saturday on the soggy grounds of the Washington Monument to turn Earth Day into an homage to science. After four hours of speeches and musical performances, they marched down Constitution Avenue to the foot of Capitol Hill, chanting “Build labs, not walls!” and “Hey, Trump, have you heard, you can’t silence every nerd!”

The March for Science began as a notion batted around online on Reddit after the Women’s March on Washington, which was held Jan. 21, the day after President Trump’s inauguration. The idea snowballed after it was endorsed by numerous mainstream science organizations, which vowed that it would not be a partisan event. It eventually became a global phenomenon, held in more than 600 cities on six continents  and cheered on by scientists on a seventh, Antarctica.

Trump Signs Executive Actions to Review Tax Regulations, Roll Back Dodd-Frank

President Trump signed a set of executive actions Friday ordering a review of significant 2016 tax regulations along with two separate reviews aimed at rolling back Dodd-Frank financial regulations.

The president visited the Treasury Department to sign the actions, saying the administration wants to "help struggling Americans achieve their financial dreams, earn a great paycheck, have a job that they love going to every single day and have real confidence in the future."

Southwest Colorado Residents Are Pushing Again to Protect 61,000 Acres in The San Juan Mountains

                              A backpacker takes in the view along the Continental Divide Trail in the South San Juan Wilderness in southern Colorado.

SILVERTON – Southwest Colorado residents are pushing again to protect 61,000 acres in the San Juan Mountains as wilderness, and are waiting on Congress after making the case that wilderness is essential for economic growth.

They’ve been campaigning since 1999 to keep high-elevation land near towering Mount Sneffels, the merciless crags of the Lizard Head and fragile forests as wild as possible forever.

Other Coloradans, in Summit and Eagle counties, are pushing  again  to protect 40,000 acres as wilderness along the Continental Divide. And a coalition of hikers, river riders, hunters and others in Gunnison County is developing a proposal to preserve tens of thousands of acres there.

Nearby in Utah, residents have urged lawmakers to create a 9.2 million-acre red-rock canyonlands wilderness. These Rocky Mountain region requests add to the pending Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness bill that would designate 1.5 million acres as wilderness in Alaska.

Population growth and the development boom in the West are propelling the efforts to establish wilderness protection while it’s still possible. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials found, in a 2013 survey, that  70 percent of Coloradans consider wilderness or undeveloped open lands offering solitude very important or extremely important. And 72 percent ranked protection of more land as wilderness as “high-priority” or “essential”  an even higher proportion of residents than the high percentages favoring more forest campgrounds, community trails, urban greenways and parks.

Former President George H.W. Bush Gets Special Visitor at Hospital

Former President George H.W. Bush remains under care at a Houston hospital, but got a special visitor on Thursday.

Bush, 92, received a visit from his son George W. Bush, the nation's 43rd president.

Here is George Bush tweet ✔ @GeorgeHWBush
Big morale boost from a high level delegation. No father has ever been more blessed, or prouder.

"Big morale boost from a high level delegation. No father has ever been more blessed, or prouder," H.W. Bush tweeted.

More From Obama Health Care: House Republicans float new ObamaCare replacement plan

According to fox news.. The House Republicans are shopping around a new ObamaCare replacement plan, amid pressure to deliver a legislative win as President Trump nears the end of his first 100 days.

“We have a good chance of getting it soon. I’d like to say next week, but I believe we will get it” eventually, Trump said Thursday at a White House press conference.

“We’re very close,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said a day earlier at an event in London.

Fox News is told they hope to have revised legislative text in the coming days, and lawmakers are set to discuss the proposal on a conference call this weekend. But it’s unclear when such a plan could hit the House floor or what level of support it might have – Congress is currently on recess, and lawmakers won’t return until next week.

Politics Today: GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz Announces He Won’t Run for Re-Election in 2018

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, announced Wednesday that will not run for re-election in 2018, a surprise decision from the congressman who raised his profile investigating the administration of President Barack Obama.

"After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018," he wrote on Facebook. "I have long advocated public service should be for a limited time and not a lifetime or full career. Many of you have heard me advocate, 'Get in, serve, and get out.' After more than 1,500 nights away from my home, it is time. I may run again for public office, but not in 2018."

Story So Far: Aaron Hernandez’s Death Highlights A Serious Problem

The latest available federal data showed that prison suicides were on the rise in 2014.

            Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez sits at the defense table during his double murder trial in Boston on March 2.

WASHINGTON  It’s a familiar story: An inmate takes his or her life inside a prison or jail, and family and loved ones are left wondering how the incident possibly could have happened. This time, the public interest is even higher one of the most famous prisoners in America, former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, was found dead in his cell on Wednesday morning, according to the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

Hernandez, 27, was serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. That sentence was handed down in 2015, but last Friday, he was found not guilty of a separate 2012 double murder.

Note: This article discusses some of the details of the means by which Hernandez killed himself.)

Giving Ivanka Trump ‘the benefit of the doubt’ - Tina Tchen Says

Tina Tchen, who worked for both President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, considers it “a mark of how far we have come that this Republican White House feels compelled to talk about women’s empowerment and women’s entrepreneurship and to do some things in support of that.” 

Tina Tchen, a former assistant to President Barack Obama and former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, says she welcomes Ivanka Trump’s focus on women’s issues — but don’t look for the pair to team up anytime soon.

“Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I guess that’s where I would start,” Tchen, former executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, tells POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown in the latest episode of the “Women Rule” podcast. “It’s good that they’re talking about these issues, but then I think we have to be very vigilant.”

More On Politics: Republicans avoid big loss by forcing runoff in Ga. House race

Jon Ossoff, a Democratic candidate in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, will face Republican Karen Handel in a June 20 runoff. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

ATLANTA  Republicans avoided an embarrassing defeat in a House race in Atlanta’s conservative suburbs by forcing a runoff against Democrat Jon Ossoff, who captured the most votes with a groundswell of grass-roots activism and millions in donations fueled largely by antipathy to President Trump.

Unofficial returns showed that Ossoff had earned less than 50 percent of the vote, the threshold needed to declare an outright victory. Instead, with 48.3 percent, Ossoff was headed to a runoff against Republican Karen Handel, the top GOP vote-getter in a special election to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

In a statement early Wednesday, Ossoff acknowledged that he had fallen short.

“This is already a remarkable victory,” he said. “We defied the odds, shattered expectations, and now are ready to fight on and win in June.”

Freshman U.S. Rep. Brian Mast snags $355,835 for re-election bid; Frankel war chest nears $1 million

                        Brian Mast talks to voters at a 2016 Republican candidate forum in Stuart .

Freshman U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, collected $355,835 in campaign contributions during the first quarter of 2017 to begin his defense of a Palm Beach-Treasure Coast House seat that is usually a battleground between Republicans and Democrats.