memeorandum: Mike Lee's Obamacare Bombshell (Ramesh Ponnuru/National Review)

6:40 PM ET, March 23, 2017

Top Items:

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Trump, Ryan scramble to save health care bill after vote canceled — President Donald Trump and House Freedom Caucus members failed to strike a deal on the GOP Obamacare replacement Thursday, endangering the prospects of passage and all but assuring any immediate vote on the measure would fail.

Discussion: NPR, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Hot Air, Occupy Democrats and Business Insider

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

White House gets out ahead of health care blame game: 'We can't make people vote' — The White House continues to voice confidence that the embattled Obamacare repeal bill will pass the House — but wants to make sure you don't go blaming President Donald Trump if it doesn't.

Discussion: Axios

Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review:

Mike Lee's Obamacare Bombshell — Last night Phil Klein had a report that is much more significant than I think a lot of people have realized: … Lee's statement was followed by, and probably contributed to, last-minute efforts by the House leadership to tweak its health-care bill to win a vote scheduled for today.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Heat Street

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

House leaders postpone vote on their health-care plan — House leaders postponed a vote Thursday on their plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, as they and President Trump struggled to meet demands of conservative lawmakers who said they could not support the bill.

Discussion: Power Line, Mother Jones, RT, Jamie Dupree, The Mahablog, ACASignups.net and Outside the Beltway

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
GOP lawmakers leave Trump White House with no deal

Discussion: Politico and FOX6Now.com

The Hill:
GOP lawmakers say ObamaCare repeal vote may be delayed

Discussion: Common Dreams, New York Times, New York Magazine and rubber hose

Scott Wong / The Hill: House GOP postpones ObamaCare repeal vote

Matt Fuller / The Huffington Post:
Freedom Caucus Closing In On Deal To Rewrite Health Care Bill At 11th Hour

Discussion: Politico, Vox, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog and Talking Points Memo

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:
No Deal on Health Care Bill After Conservative Meeting With Trump

Discussion: RedState, Vox, Associated Press, Instapundit, NBC News, Towleroad, Gothamist, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, CNBC, The Atlantic, CBS New York, Business Insider, TheBlaze, Hit & Run and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:
House Vote to Repeal Affordable Care Act Is Postponed, Despite Trump's Effort

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Congresswoman Jaime …, Washington Post, The Stranger …, The Daily Signal, CNBC, Jamie Dupree and Business Insider

Bloomberg:
Trump Talks Changes to Health Bill to Win Over Conservatives

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Morning Call, Asbury Park Press, Business Insider, AOL and FOX2now.com

CNN:
House won't vote on health care bill Thursday

Discussion: TheBlaze

Peter Suderman / Hit & Run:
Republicans Are Rushing To Vote on a Health Care Bill They Haven't Read. They Learned Nothing From Obamacare.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, The Hill, Hot Air, New York Times, Rewire and ThinkProgress

TIME:

Read President Trump's Interview With TIME on Truth and Falsehoods — President Trump spoke with TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer on March 22 for a cover story about the way he has handled truth and falsehood in his career. — This is a transcript of the exchange, with some minor edits.

Michael Scherer / TIME:

Can President Trump Handle the Truth? — Generations of American children have learned the apocryphal tale of young George Washington, bravely admitting to his father that he chopped down the cherry tree. The story sprang from a culture that wanted even its fables to serve the ideal of truth.

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNBC and Mother Jones

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
9 bonkers things Donald Trump said in his new exclusive interview with Time

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Atlantic and The Moderate Voice

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Trump's Defense of His Lies: 'I'm President and You're Not'

Discussion: Raw Story

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
President Trump's cascade of false claims in Time's interview on his falsehoods

Discussion: New York Times, Hullabaloo and Sputnik International

CNN:

Nunes apologizes to House Intel Committee, member says — “Basically what he has done is he has scuttled and put a cloud over his own investigation,” Cummings said — (CNN)House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes apologized to committee members Thursday, a Democrat on the panel told reporters …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, RT, NPR, Mediaite, Daily Kos, NBC News and IJR

Mike Levine / ABC News:

Intel chair Devin Nunes unsure if Trump associates were directly surveilled — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, R-Calif., does not know “for sure” whether President Donald Trump or members of his transition team were even on the phone calls or other communications …

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
McCain: Nunes actions ‘very disturbing’

Discussion: Politico, U.S. House of …, RedState and The Daily Signal

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Nunes shows why he's incapable of running an investigation

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, US News, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, NBC News, Salon and Hit & Run

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi: Intel chairman ‘a stooge of the president’

Discussion: Axios

Bwittes / Lawfare:
What The Heck Is Devin Nunes Talking About? A Guide for the Perplexed

Discussion: TIME and Vox

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Schumer: Democrats will filibuster Gorsuch nomination — As the Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing from witnesses for and against Judge Neil Gorsuch, his Supreme Court nomination was delivered a critical blow: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced he would oppose Gorsuch …

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Democrats are going to filibuster Gorsuch. It's the right thing to do.

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, Business Insider, Bloomberg and The Daily Signal

Rick Perry / Houston Chronicle:

Did A&M shun due process in the name of ‘diversity’? — As Texas' first Aggie governor and as someone who was twice elected Yell Leader of Texas A&M University, I am deeply troubled by the recent conduct of A&M's administration and Student Government Association (SGA) during the Aggie student-body president elections for 2017-2018.

Discussion: New York Times, Houston Chronicle, IJR, Dallas Morning News, NBC News, Raw Story and Towleroad

The Texas Tribune:
Former Gov. Perry questions legitimacy of Texas A&M student body election

Discussion: Washington Post, The Guardian and The Slot

Brookings Institution:

Senior Scholar - Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs — In “Mortality and morbidity in the 21st Century,” Princeton Professors Anne Case and Angus Deaton follow up on their groundbreaking 2015 paper that revealed a shocking increase in midlife mortality among white non …

Discussion: The National Interest, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and NPR

Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:
New research identifies a ‘sea of despair’ among white, working-class Americans

Discussion: Raw Story and naked capitalism

Betsy McKay / Wall Street Journal:
Death Rates Rise for Wide Swath of White Adults, Study Finds

Discussion: The Atlantic and emptywheel

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Hunter under criminal investigation for alleged campaign finance violations — Rep. Duncan Hunter is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department over alleged campaign finance violations, the House Ethics Committee announced Thursday. — The California Republican spent tens …

Discussion: ABC News, sandiegouniontribune.com, Mediaite and Political Wire

House Committee on Ethics:
Statement of the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics Regarding Representative Duncan Hunter

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Alice Ollstein / Talking Points Memo:

Senator Apologizes After Joke About Losing His Mammograms In GOP Bill — As the House struggles to agree on a path forward on its bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, GOP leaders may cave to a demand from hardline conservatives to scrap Obamacare's Essential Health Benefits rule …

Discussion: Center on Budget …, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Mashable, Washington Times, CNN, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:

What the GOP's plan to kill essential health benefits means — The pivotal debate in the fight over ObamaCare is whether to kill “essential health benefits” in the law that mandate certain coverage areas for insurers. — House Republicans are now discussing a deal that would do away with the requirements …

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, Daily Wire and Common Dreams

Jerusalem Post:

‘Dual US-Israeli citizen behind most JCC bomb threat calls’ — Israeli authorities have arrested an 19-year-old suspect on suspicion of instigating a series of threats to Jewish communities in the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand over the past six months.

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post, The Times of Israel, ABC News, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, CBS New York, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, Raw Story, IJR, RT, twitchy.com, AOL, Tablet Magazine and Mediaite

New York Times:
Jewish Center Bomb Threat Suspect Is Arrested in Israel

Discussion: Haaretz, Washington Post, National Review, NPR, Hit & Run, JustOneMinute, Gothamist, Hot Air and New York Magazine

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:

4-Year-Old Brings Shell Casing to Preschool. Principal Suspends Him for 7 Days, Calls Child Services. — An Illinois preschool is teaching a 4-year-old boy quite the lesson. Officials suspended him for a full week—and also called the Department of Children and Family Services on his parents.

Discussion: FOX2now.com, Facebook, Daily Wire and Heat Street

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The health care bill could be Donald Trump's Iraq War — Sold on lies, poorly planned, deadly to thousands, and a catastrophe for its authors. — If it passes, the American Health Care Act will be Donald Trump and Paul Ryan's Iraq War. It's been sold with lies.

Discussion: STAT, Politico and Common Dreams

James Hibberd / EW.com:

Rotten Tomatoes is ‘the destruction of our business,’ says director — Director and producing mogul Brett Ratner says film critic aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes is a destructive force in Hollywood. — Speaking at the Sun Valley Film Festival last weekend, the Rush Hour director wanted …

Discussion: Mashable