The 142 page discussion draft (bill), titled the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 was released at 11am on April 22, 2017 to the entire Senate who with the exception of 13 Senators, had not been engaged in its creation nor had prior access to its content. The goal of the bill is to replace both the proposed House bill, the American Health Care Act of 2017 and the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The new Senate bill can be passed by majority vote, but along with Democratic opposition, Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Ted Cruz (Texas) jointly announced their unwillingness to support it at this time: “Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor. There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current healthcare system but it does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their healthcare costs.”
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Category Archives: Congress
Senate Intel Cmte will obtain Trump banking records from Treasury
ABC News: Senate investigators will receive a trove of banking records from the Treasury Department that lawmakers believe could help shed light on any business dealings involving campaign aides and other advisers to President Trump, Sen. Ron Wyden told ABC News on Tuesday. “The stack of press reports gets higher every day regarding financial connections… Continue Reading
Books Analyzes How America’s Top 20 Percent Perpetuates Inequality
Boston Review – This essay is excerpted with permission from Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It by Richard Reeves, Brookings Institution Press, 2017. “In January 2015, Barack Obama suffered an acute political embarrassment. A proposal from the… Continue Reading
Analysis – Emerging Senate Repeal Bill Eviscerates Protections for Millions in Employer Plans Nationwide
Center for American Progress – By Topher Spiro and Emily Gee: “This week Axios reported that the emerging Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will allow states to waive coverage of essential health benefits for small employer and individually purchased plans. In waiver states, this cut in benefits would be catastrophic for… Continue Reading
Questions increase over determining extent of Russia election hacking
NPR – If Voting Machines Were Hacked, Would Anyone Know? – “As new reports emerge about Russian-backed attempts to hack state and local election systems [Link], U.S. officials are increasingly worried about how vulnerable American elections really are. While the officials say they see no evidence that any votes were tampered with, no one knows… Continue Reading
Availability of Legislative Measures in House of Representatives (The “Three-Day Rule”)
CRS – Availability of Legislative Measures in the House of Representatives (The “Three-Day Rule”), Elizabeth Rybicki, Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process. June 12, 2017 [via FAS] “House rules govern the length of time legislative measures must be available to Members before being considered on the floor. For measures reported from committee, the committee… Continue Reading
CRS – Special Counsels, Independent Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Options for Independent Executive Investigations
Special Counsels, Independent Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Options for Independent Executive Investigations, June 1, 2017 [via FAS] “Under the Constitution, Congress has no direct role in federal law enforcement and its ability to initiate appointments of any prosecutors to address alleged wrongdoings by executive officials is limited. While Congress retains broad oversight and investigatory powers… Continue Reading
CRS – President Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement Raises Legal Question
President Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement Raises Legal Questions, CRS Legal Sidebar, June 9, 2017. [via FAS] “On June 1, President Trump announced his long-anticipated decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement—an international agreement intended to reduce the effects of climate change by maintaining global temperatures “well below 2°C above pre-industrial… Continue Reading
Agency scorecard on IT reform registers uniform decline
Nextgov: “For the first time since Congress began composing biannual scorecards ranking agency progress adhering to the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act in 2015, agency grades have dropped. Released prior to [the June 13, 2017] 2 p.m. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, 15 agencies held steady, four agencies improved and five fared… Continue Reading
Flow of information on hacking of US election escalates
Bloomberg: “Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump’s election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported. In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers… Continue Reading
Rep. Quigley Introduces COVFEFE Act to preserve Trump Tweets
News release: Legislation Expands Presidential Records Act Preservation to Include Social Media “Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Transparency Caucus, introduced the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement or “COVFEFE” Act. This bill codifies vital guidance from the National Archives by amending the Presidential Records Act to include… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – Competitive Intelligence – A Selective Resource Guide – Updated June 2017
Via LLRX.com – Competitive Intelligence – A Selective Resource Guide – Updated June 2017 Sabrina I. Pacifici has completely revised and updated her guide, which she first published in 2005 and has updated yearly since that time. A wide range of free sites with expertly sourced content specific to researchers focused on business, finance, government… Continue Reading
