memeorandum: Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he's ‘very discouraged and disappointed’ by GOP health care plan (Chris Massie/CNN)

2:10 PM ET, March 7, 2017

Top Items:

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.

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.

Discussion: Forbes, Hit & Run, Instapundit, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Mother Jones

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: The Atlantic, The Mahablog, The Verge and Scripting News

Julia Belluz / Vox:

The Republican health insurance plan slashes funding for vaccines and public health — The ACA's Prevention and Public Health Fund is poised to disappear by 2019. — Yesterday, House Republicans released their plan for replacing Obamacare, giving Americans a sense, at long last …

Discussion: ABC News, Ways and Means and Health Affairs Blog

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: Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, New York Times, Instapundit, The Hill, Politicus USA, Politico, NBC News, RedState, EconLog, Hullabaloo, The Atlantic, Business Insider and CNBC

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:

GOP Sen. Roy Blunt: House GOP health care plan ‘may not be a plan which can get a majority of votes to pass’ — (CNN)Republican Sen. Roy Blunt said Tuesday that the House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act may not be able to get a majority of votes to pass.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Politicus USA, Political Wire and portman.senate.gov

Michael F. Cannon / Cato Institute:

The House GOP Leadership's Health Care Bill Is ObamaCare-Lite — Or Worse — During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised legislation that “fully repeals ObamaCare.” Monday night, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives released legislation it claims would repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Wire, National Review and Vox

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
House Republican plan would create Obamacare cliff for 2020 presidential election

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Instapundit, Mother Jones and Politico

Heritage Action for America:
GOP PLAN FAILS TO MOVE PAST OBAMACARE'S PROGRESSIVE PROMISE

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, CNN, The Week and The Atlantic

Lisa Hagen / The Hill:
Chaffetz clarifies comments on choosing between healthcare, iPhone

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Politico and Hot Air

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Conservatives pan House Obamacare repeal bill

Discussion: The Hill, Daily Kos, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Vox, TheBlaze, Hot Air, Daily Wire, Fox News, The Daily Caller, The Week, RedState, Axios and Liberal Values

Timothy Jost / Health Affairs Blog:
Examining The House Republican ACA Repeal And Replace Legislation

Discussion: Mother Jones and Vox

Daniel Horowitz / Conservative Review:
RINO-Care: A more insolvent version of Obamacare ... except this time GOP owns it

Discussion: Daily Wire, The Resurgent and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

CNN:
CNN/ORC poll: Public splits on revoking individual mandate

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Washington Times

Billy House / Bloomberg:
Conservatives Pan GOP Obamacare Replacement Plan as ‘Welfare’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

New York Times:
The Parts of Obamacare Republicans Will Keep, Change or Discard

Discussion: Daily Kos and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:
Chelsea Clinton knocks ObamaCare replacement plan

Discussion: RedState, twitchy.com, New York Magazine and Washington Free Beacon

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

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Chaffetz: Americans May Have To Choose Between New Phone, Health Insurance

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNNMoney and Eschaton

New York Times:

WikiLeaks Releases Trove of Alleged C.I.A. Hacking Documents — WASHINGTON — WikiLeaks on Tuesday released thousands of documents that it said described sophisticated software tools used by the Central Intelligence Agency to break into smart phones, computers and even Internet-connected televisions.

Discussion: Breitbart, Mother Jones, JustOneMinute, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mashable, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse and twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Eric Geller / Politico:
WikiLeaks dumps alleged secret CIA hacking files

Discussion: Mashable, Hot Air, Axios and Engadget

Greg Miller / Washington Post:
WikiLeaks says it has obtained trove of CIA hacking tools

Discussion: The Atlantic, Mashable, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Mediaite, Axios, Sputnik International, emptywheel, The Verge, The Truth Division and The Week

Extra:

Alec Baldwin Might Not Play Trump on ‘SNL’ Much Longer — Star Alec Baldwin has quickly become a fan favorite playing President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” but the actor isn't sure how much longer he will do it. — “Extra's” Mario Lopez sat down with Alec to talk about his new movie …

Discussion: Breitbart, The Atlantic, The Hill, USA Today, Mediaite, Washington Post, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Business Insider, TheBlaze and Mashable

Monmouth University:

Public divided on how changes to ACA would affect pocketbook — West Long Branch, NJ - A national Monmouth University Poll conducted right before Congressional Republicans unveiled their health care plan this week found that 1-in-3 Americans believe any such reform would drive …

Discussion: Political Wire and The Week

Chris Massie / CNN:
Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he's ‘very discouraged and disappointed’ by GOP health care plan

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo

Paul McLeod / BuzzFeed:
The Republican Health Care Plan Includes A Tax Break For Insurance CEOs

Discussion: Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi

Peter W. Stevenson / Washington Post:

That time Trump surprised a White House tour group in front of a portrait of Hillary Clinton — White House tours resumed Tuesday after being on hiatus during the presidential transition and inauguration. And within a few short hours, one tour group got just about all the access it could hope for.

Discussion: RedState, The Gateway Pundit and The Week

Callum Borchers / Washington Post:
Trump's White House spokesmen have taken questions for 242 fewer minutes than Obama's

Discussion: Mediaite, Media Matters for America, Politico and Political Wire

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:
White House appears to copy from Exxon Mobil release

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Shakesville, The Daily Caller, RedState, Scared Monkeys, Mediaite, Business Wire, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Week, Mashable, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones and The White House

Noah Feldman / Bloomberg:

Trump's Wiretap Tweets Raise Risk of Impeachment — The sitting president has accused his predecessor of an act that could have gotten the past president impeached. That's not your ordinary exercise of free speech. If the accusation were true, and President Barack Obama ordered …

Discussion: Althouse, The Resurgent, Washington Post, AOL, Raw Story and Business Insider

Olivia Beavers / The Hill:

Khan speech in Canada cancelled amid questions — Gold Star father and outspoken President Trump critic Khizr Khan on Monday canceled a planned speech in Canada as questions about the circumstances swirled. — Ramsay Talks, the organization planning to host Khan Tuesday for his scheduled speech …

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Toronto Star, Facebook, Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Raw Story and The Week

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:

Trump's split screen: A two-hour virtual conversation between the president and ‘Fox and Friends’ — Early Tuesday morning, President Trump tuned into “Fox and Friends.” — For several days, Trump's staff kept him away from television cameras. He spent the weekend hidden away …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Snopes.com, New York Magazine, TVNewser, Mediaite and Raw Story

Elaina Plott / Washingtonian:

Is Katrina Pierson Actually Doing Anything? — On the eve of President Trump's State of the Union address, Katrina Pierson strolls into the Trump Hotel lobby, her face buried in her gold bedazzled phone. She's just arrived from a Fox News hit, and the suit-clad men gathered at the bar, sipping Manhattans, notice.

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Liberals threaten to primary over Gorsuch — Left-leaning groups are sending a stern message to Democrats who consider backing President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court: Do it and risk a primary challenge in 2018. — Liberal activists say Senate Democrats are not doing enough to focus …

Discussion: Hot Air and America Rising

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.

Michael Crowley / Politico:

Kremlin-backed media turns on Trump — Kremlin-controlled news outlets used to root for Donald Trump's election. Now they're reveling in the chaos and division of his early presidency. — “Sessions Scandal: ‘U.S Headed to Constitutional Crisis,’” reads a March 3 headline on the website …

Discussion: Politicus USA and Daily Kos