And delaying on health care could frustrate President Trump.
Advertisement
The omnibus spending bill is expected to sail through the Senate and will next head to the president’s desk.
Trump pushed back Tuesday as the Democrats celebrated.
Including Upton and Long, The Associated Press has counted 21 GOP lawmakers opposing the Republican bill, one shy of the 22 needed to kill it, assuming all Democrats vote no.
“Our country needs a good “shutdown” in September to fix mess!” he said. Patty Murray, D-Wash., one of the architects of the previous bipartisan budget agreement with Ryan, said arguing otherwise mischaracterizes the negotiation.
Changes were made to the GOP’s health care replacement plan to get the support of arch-conservative Freedom Caucus members.
House Republicans were split almost in half Wednesday concerning the bill, which was negotiated last week.
While the bill meets Trump’s request to boost defense spending – $15 billion will be added to funding for the military – it also keeps intact money for so-called “sanctuary cities” that do not comply with federal immigration laws. And the Trump administration’s gambit to tie Affordable Care Act subsidies to the wall didn’t work, either. He says it’s “a really good down payment” on rebuilding the military and “the biggest increase in border security in a decade”.
And House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. told her colleagues this week the bill “reflects significant progress defeating unsafe Republican riders and securing key victories for Democratic priorities”. In reality, Mulvaney said, Trump and the Republicans were very pleased with the measure. And Mulvaney claimed of Democrats: “They wanted a shutdown”. Above all, Americans like winners; they don’t like losers, and they especially hate people who make excuses for why they don’t even try.
Democrats may be ecstatic and conservative Republicans, livid, but Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, insisted the administration had won. How?
House Speaker Paul Ryan wants to whip up 216 votes in the House of Representatives before he brings the bill to the floor, something he failed to do the first time around. The only leader talking about and hyping one was Trump.
“This is what winning looks like”.
That wasn’t enough for Trump. “The President’s priority was to secure the southern border and that’s what this does”, Mulvaney said. “Many of us are here because we pledged to cast this very vote”, Ryan said. The Democrats didn’t tell you that. They sounded a note of defeat, blaming Senate rules for a budget plan that merited closing most government operations. “They were desperate to make this administration look like we couldn’t govern”, Mulvaney said. You’ll learn about donors.
But if the law truly implodes for 2018, meaning insurers drop out of so many areas that millions of people have no insurance options, it could trigger an entirely different health debate.
In fact, the White House had praised the deal on Monday as a win for the nation’s military, health benefits for coal miners and other Trump priorities. He is always trying to spin his way out. “The reason? He failed to deliver the votes on his health care bill”.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., claimed the bipartisan budget deal as a win because it breaks the Democrats’ formula of demanding military hikes be matched on the non-military side – an interpretation of the deal that Democrats disagree with.
Advertisement
Various parts of the House bill, including the recent change to let states waive some coverage rules – a provision that has ignited concerns about preexisting conditions – have been mentioned as possible violations of those Senate rules and would have to be taken out in order to qualify for the protections of reconciliation. Establishment Republican fears of being blamed for a government shutdown are so severe that they are are willing to cede any issue in order to avoid it, even though there is no evidence that shutdowns are inherently damaging to their party. George W. Bush and Barack Obama both lamented the Washington grind and alluded to dictatorships being easier. Under current law, insurance policies sold on health exchanges established by the ACA can not charge sick people more than healthy people.
