Top Items:
New York Times:
A Brave Front, but Regrets? On Health Bill, Trump Has a Few — WASHINGTON — President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt.
Discussion:
Vox, Business Insider, Salon, Axios, No More Mister Nice Blog, NPR, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico, New York Magazine, Reuters and Washington Post
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Adam Davidson / New Yorker:
What the G.O.P. Doesn't Get About Who Pays for Health Care — A few years ago, a relative of mine, an electrician who made a good living laying cable alongside highways, told me that his economic future depended on one thing: his back. He saw what happened to older guys …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Atlantic and Vox
Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Why Steve Bannon Might Be the Winner of the GOP's Health-Care Civil War — With hours to go before the House is set to (finally) vote on Paul Ryan's health-care bill, the Trump administration is putting a full-court press on recalcitrant Republicans to rally votes.
Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
House leaders and President Trump press for ‘yes’ as they prepare to vote by late afternoon Friday on health-care reform
Discussion:
New York Times, Talking Points Memo, CNBC, Political Insider blog, Business Insider, The Daily Caller and Deadline
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
A postponed health-care vote, a big GOP embarrassment and no good options ahead
Discussion:
Politico, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune, Occupy Democrats, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, ACASignups.net, Mother Jones, The Mahablog and Outside the Beltway
Alison Kodjak / NPR:
GOP Health Bill Changes Could Kill Protections For Those With Pre-Existing Conditions
Discussion:
The American Conservative and indianapublicmedia.org
Fox News:
Potential ‘smoking gun’ showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says — Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself …
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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, Washington Post, RT, Hullabaloo, Politico, Business Insider, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, The Daily Caller and CNN
Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: The health care ultimatum — The big story: So there is a law of political physics that applies to Donald Trump after all. Actually, this one is basic math, in that House leaders and the White House have never had the majority they assumed they could get, as we approach today's showdown.
Discussion:
Vox, Business Insider and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Shut down Nunes's investigation — and investigate him for leaking — REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-Calif.) on Monday denounced what he described as the illegal leak of classified information concerning conversations between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials.
Peter Hoekstra / Wall Street Journal:
Did Obama Abuse Raw Intelligence? — I couldn't have seen those transcripts when I led the House intel committee. — By — It was remarkable when Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, revealed Wednesday that Trump campaign officials were caught up in the inadvertent collection of intelligence.
Discussion:
The Hill and Washington Post
Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Nunes: I Had ‘Duty’ To Brief Trump Since He's ‘Taking Lot Of Heat’ In Media
Discussion:
Daily Kos
CNN:
Schiff: New evidence shows possible Trump-Russia collusion
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE and Political Wire
Daniel Chaitin / Washington Examiner:
Bob Woodward: Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme
Discussion:
Fox News Insider and Balloon Juice
Nicholas Bagley / The Incidental Economist:
Confusion over essential health benefits — The post has been revised to take into account feedback on how best to understand the manager's amendment. — Last night, House Republicans released the text of the final manager's amendment to the American Health Care Act …
Discussion:
Common Dreams, Balloon Juice, Health Affairs Blog, CBO's Publications, Vox, Los Angeles Times and Mother Jones
Max Greenwood / The Hill:
GOP rep: Once healthcare bill passes, lawmakers can ‘really explain it’ — Voter opposition to the Republican healthcare bill is the result of misunderstanding, and lawmakers will be able to “really explain it” once it becomes law, Rep. Chris Collins said Thursday.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
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Heritage Action for America:
“NO” ON AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT (H.R. 1628)
Discussion:
The Daily Signal, Talking Points Memo and FOX6Now.com
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The Republican health-care proposal is breathtakingly unpopular
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Hill, AOL, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Informed Comment, The Guardian, Slate, US News, Hot Air and Daily Wire
Scott Wong / The Hill:
Trump threatens to leave ObamaCare in place if repeal bill fails
Discussion:
Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Political Wire
Bloomberg:
Keystone Foes Prepare to Fight as Trump Readies Pipeline Permit — Federal authorization just shifts pipeline battle to Nebraska — Environmentalists vow protests and multi-pronged resistence — President Donald Trump is about to make good on his promise to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline — but the fight is far from over.
Discussion:
FOX News Radio, Hit & Run, New York Times and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
US Department of State:
Issuance of Presidential Permit to TransCanada for Keystone XL Pipeline — The Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs has issued a Presidential permit to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. ("TransCanada") authorizing TransCanada to construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline facilities …
Discussion:
NPR, The Guardian, The Daily Caller and Towleroad
Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
The Republican health care plan is totally nuts — A pointless, reckless rush to vote on a bad, unpopular, doomed bill. — In both its substance and its procedural details, the plan cooked up by the Trump administration and House Republican leadership to overhaul the American health care system is completely insane.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
RELATED:
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Trump Administration Orders Tougher Screening of Visa Applicants — WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is making it tougher for millions of visitors to enter the United States by demanding new security checks before giving visas to tourists, business travelers and relatives of American residents.
Discussion:
Politicus USA, Occupy Democrats, Axios, updatily.com, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller
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Media Matters for America:
The Life Cycle Of A Donald Trump Lie — On March 4, President Donald Trump declared himself the victim of a scandal on the level of the the Watergate crimes that brought down President Richard Nixon. In an early-morning tweetstorm apparently triggered by reading a Breitbart article …
Discussion:
PolitiFact, CNBC, Hullabaloo and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »
Annie Karni / Politico:
Ivanka's lawyer, a Democrat, defends herself — Attorney Jamie Gorelick had just finished vetting potential cabinet secretaries for Hillary Clinton—and raising money for the failed 2016 Democratic nominee - when Jared Kushner called her last year, seeking legal counsel.
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Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Mulvaney: If Your State Doesn't Mandate Maternity Care, Change Your State — Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, one of the top administration officials who had been working to pass the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, on Friday morning brushed off concerns …
Discussion:
bradford-delong.com
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Scammers, the Scammed and America's Fate — Many people are horrified, and rightly so, by what passes for leadership in today's Washington. And it's important to keep the horror of our political situation up front, to keep highlighting the lies, the cruelty, the bad judgment.
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