memeorandum: Can Ronna Romney McDaniel unite a fractured Republican Party? (Katie Glueck/McClatchy Washington Bureau)

10:35 AM ET, March 7, 2017

Top Items:

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The GOP health bill doesn't know what problem it's trying to solve — After seven years of drafting a replacement plan, we get ... this? — Have you read Sarah Kliff's thorough look at the GOP Obamacare replacement? You have? Good. Some thoughts. — Little in politics shocks me.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Hit & Run, New York Times, EconLog, Hullabaloo, NBC News, The Atlantic and CNBC

Avik Roy / Forbes:

House GOP's Obamacare Replacement Will Make Coverage Unaffordable For Millions — Otherwise, It's Great — That's not an ironic headline. Leading House Republicans have included a number of transformative and consequential reforms in their American Health Care Act, the full text of which was published Monday evening.

Discussion: RedState, Fox News, Fox News Insider, Vox, The Week, BizPac Review, Mother Jones, Business Insider, Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, AOL and Politicus USA

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Chaffetz: Americans May Have To Choose Between New Phone, Health Insurance — Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) on Tuesday morning brushed off concerns about the access low-income Americans will have to health insurance with Republicans' plan to replace Obamacare, arguing that Americans …

Discussion: CNNMoney and Eschaton

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Conservatives pan House Obamacare repeal bill — A handful of House conservatives on Monday evening criticized GOP leadership's newly released Obamacare replacement bill, foreshadowing trouble for the repeal effort even after leaders tried to assuage the far-right.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and The Week

Eugene Scott / CNN:

Chaffetz: Low-income Americans will have to choose health care over iPhones — Chaffetz: Invest in healthcare over iPhone — House Republicans introduced a bill Monday that would scrap Obamacare's individual mandate and change the way Medicaid is administered

Discussion: FOX31 Denver

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Republican Obamacare plan signals that liberalism has already won — In releasing their healthcare plan on Monday, House Republican leaders sent a signal loud and clear: liberalism has already won. — Barring radical changes, Republicans will not be passing a bill that ushers in a new era of market-based healthcare.

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

Column The GOP's Obamacare repeal plan is out—and it's even worse than anyone expected — House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, perpetrator of the GOP Obamacare repeal bill. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) — After weeks of expectations — actually, nearly seven years of expectations …

Discussion: Forbes, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Daily Caller

CNN:

CNN/ORC poll: Public splits on revoking individual mandate — Washington (CNN)Americans are sharply divided on revoking Obamacare's mandate that individuals obtain health insurance coverage, according to a new CNN/ORC poll, a change that's a key provision of a newly-released Republican plan to repeal and replace the 2010 law.

Discussion: Washington Times and Politico

Speaker.gov:
Statement on Introduction of the American Health Care Act

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress, New York Times, twitchy.com, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Conservative 101, TheBlaze, NBC News, Balloon Juice, Business Insider, Fox News Insider, KTLA, The Daily Signal and The Last Refuge

Sarah Kliff / Vox:
The American Health Care Act: the Republicans' bill to replace Obamacare, explained

Discussion: CNBC, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Shakesville, Talking Points Memo, ACASignups.net, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Politicus USA

New York Times:
House Republicans Unveil Plan to Replace Health Law

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Business Insider, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo, The Resurgent, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Mashable, RedState, TalkLeft and Politico

Margot Sanger-Katz / New York Times:
G.O.P. Repeal Bill Would Cut Funding for Poor and Taxes on Rich

Discussion: Speaker.gov, Daily Kos, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Vox, WKRG-TV, Washington Free Beacon, CBS New York, Business Insider, NPR and portman.senate.gov

kff.org:
Tax Credits under the Affordable Care Act vs. Replacement Proposal: An Interactive Map

Discussion: Vox, Health Affairs Blog and The Atlantic

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:
House Republicans release long-awaited plan to replace Obamacare

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, BostonGlobe.com, CNN, The Hill, Raw Story, The Root, Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Liberal Values and Business Insider

Axios:
Trumpcare: What's in, what's out

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Townhall.com, Mother Jones and New York Magazine

Wall Street Journal:
House GOP Releases Plan to Repeal, Replace Obamacare

Discussion: NBC News and Instapundit

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:
GOP releases bills to repeal and replace ObamaCare

Discussion: Politico, Raw Story and ThinkProgress

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

White House appears to copy from Exxon Mobil release — A White House press release congratulating Exxon Mobil Corp. for its recent investment in U.S. manufacturing repeats an exact paragraph from the oil company's own release, CNN reported Monday. … “ExxonMobil is strategically investing …

Discussion: RedState

Press Release:
ExxonMobil Plans Investments of $20 Billion to Expand Manufacturing in U.S. Gulf Region

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, ABC News, The Week and Mother Jones

The White House:
President Trump Congratulates Exxon Mobil for Job-Creating Investment Program

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Washington Post, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, Mashable, Daily Kos, Politico, Fox News Insider and fox4kc.com

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:

Senate Democrat Who Claimed Hard Evidence of Trump-Russia Collusion: Uh, Never Mind — Liberal Delaware Sen. Chris Coons caused a stir last week when he indicated during a televised interview that yet-undisclosed transcripts of recorded phone conversations conclusively prove that elements …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Resurgent and The Federalist

John Crudele / New York Post:

Why Dems will regret a probe into Russian election hacking — MORE FROM: — The investigation of Russian interference in the US election could turn into a big headache for the Democrats. The phrase “Be careful what you ask for” comes to mind. — For months before the presidential election …

Discussion: BizPac Review

Austin Wright / Politico:

McCain on Trump's wiretap claim: 'I haven't seen anything like this' — Sen. John McCain on Monday demanded the release of any evidence backing up President Donald Trump's claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the run-up to the presidential election …

Discussion: Roll Call, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo and The Week

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
White House Rejects Comey's Assertion That Wiretapping Claim Is False

Discussion: The Atlantic, Business Insider, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, Outside the Beltway, IJR, Balloon Juice, National Review and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Victor Davis Hanson / National Review:

The Ancient Laws of Unintended Consequences — Eight years of a fawning press have made the Left reckless. — The classical idea of a divine Nemesis ("reckoning" or “downfall") that brings unforeseen retribution for hubris (insolence and arrogance) was a recognition that there are certain laws …

Discussion: Instapundit

Anna Fifield / Washington Post:

North Korea says it was practicing to hit U.S. military bases in Japan with missiles — TOKYO — North Korea was practicing to strike United States military bases in Japan with its latest barrage of missiles, state media in Pyongyang reported Tuesday, and it appears to be trying to outsmart …

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Political Wire, The Week and New York Magazine

CNN:
THAAD missile defense system arrives in South Korea

Discussion: Associated Press, The Other McCain and Bloomberg

Maya Oppenheim / The Independent:

Donald Trump has spent almost a quarter of his time as President in Florida — Republican has spent four out of seven weekends in his 126-room ‘Winter White House’ — Donald Trump is believed to have spent almost a quarter of his time as President in the sunshine state of Florida.

George Bennett / Post On Politics:
Donald Trump's Florida presidency: 241+ hours in Sunshine State

Discussion: The Hill

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

THE INSIDE SCOOP: Obamacare replacement politics ... RAND PAUL joins with Freedom Caucus — TRUMP to strategize with House GOP deputy whips — ZUCKER SPEAKS in Jerusalem — Listen to Playbook in 90 Seconds http://bit.ly/2n0PaKM ... Subscribe on iTunes http://apple.co/2eX6Eay …

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider and AOL

Katie Glueck / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Can Ronna Romney McDaniel unite a fractured Republican Party? — WASHINGTON — On the night before the election, Pete Hoekstra stood onstage at a Michigan convention center, introducing the lineup of speakers at Donald Trump's final rally of the campaign.

Bryan Bender / Politico:

Trump plan pays for immigration crackdown with cuts to coastal, air security — The Trump administration wants to gut the Coast Guard and make deep cuts in airport and rail security to help pay for its crackdown on illegal immigration, according to internal budget documents reviewed by POLITICO …

Discussion: Business Insider and The Week

Mitch Smith / New York Times:

Omaha's Answer to Costly Potholes? Go Back to Gravel Roads — OMAHA — After living more than 40 years along a road plagued by potholes, Jo Anne Amoura was excited to see city crews shred her block of Leavenworth Street into gravel. — “I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is great.