Ap Fact Check: Trump’s odd threat on Congress health care

In this Tuesday, July 25, 2017, photo, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine is surrounded by reporters as she arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, before a test vote on the Republican health care bill. Collins, who was one of three Republican senators voting against the GOP health bill on Friday, July 28, said she's troubled by Trump's suggestions that the insurance payments are a "bailout."

Battle lines drawn in Dist. 6 election

Phoenix residents who live in City Council Districts 4 and 6 have the opportunity to vote in the regularly scheduled Council Election on Tuesday, Aug. 29. And while incumbent Laura Pastor, who represents District 4, faces no challengers, the same cannot be said for District 6 Councilman Sal DiCiccio. District 6 includes the Biltmore area, Arcadia and Ahwatukee.

Senate race off to pleasant start

When last we wrote about next year's U.S. Senate race, we were warning Hoosier Republicans not to take the seat for granted. Incumbent Joe Donnelly is not just a lucky Democrat who drew a bad candidate in Richard Mourdock in 2012.

Democrats plan to block possible Trump recess appointments

Democrats are worried President Donald Trump wants to remove the nation's top lawyer, Attorney General Jeff Sessions , during the August recess to make way for someone who would be willing to fire the special prosecutor leading the charge into the 2016 election hacking investigation without first being confirmed by the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D- New York , said Monday on the Senate floor that "if such a scenario were to pass, we would have a constitutional crisis on our hands."

Sen. Flake faults GOP, Democrat partisanship for Trump rise

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake takes his own party to task as well as Democrats, blaming both in a new book for the political gridlock that led to Donald Trump's presidency and its current chaos. The debut of the Arizona lawmaker's book "Conscience of a Conservative" comes amid turmoil in the White House marked by Anthony Scaramucci's rocky 11 days as communications director and the replacement of the chief of staff.

Donald Trump looking into executive action on healthcare: Rand Paul

U.S. Senator Rand Paul said he spoke to President Donald Trump by phone about healthcare reform on Monday and told the president he thought Trump had the authority to create associations that would allow organizations to offer group health insurance plans. Paul, a Republican, told reporters that Trump was considering taking some form of executive action to address problems with the healthcare system after the Senate failed last week to pass a measure to reform the system.

Trump threatened to end health care coverage for members of Congress. Can he?

Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney explained Trump's tweet that bailouts to members of Congress would end soon on CNN on July 29, 2017. Following repeated failed attempts to repeal Obamacare, President Donald Trump has turned to bashing not only the health care law and its architects but all members of Congress on Twitter.

The Latest: Thune says end of filibusters not realistic

In this Tuesday, July 25, 2017, photo, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine is surrounded by reporters as she arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, before a test vote on the Republican health care bill. Collins, who was one of three Republican senators voting against the GOP health bill on Friday, July 28, said she's troubled by Trump's suggestions that the insurance payments are a "bailout."

New health care ideas, but path of passage iffy at best

Republican, Democratic and even bipartisan plans for reshaping parts of the Obama health care law are proliferating in Congress. But they have iffy prospects at best, and there were no signs Monday that GOP leaders have chosen a fresh pathway after last week's collapse of their struggle to repeal and rewrite the statute.

McCain threatens to give his own Afghanistan strategy to Trump

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain on Monday threatened to present President Donald Trump with his own Afghanistan strategy if the Trump administration won't develop its own. McCain issued a statement saying he would offer an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act in September that would provide a strategy for Afghanistan, the 16-year war that has been a divisive issue within the White House.

A terrorism trial in the federal courts

Republicans raged over what they called the White House's weak and dangerous decision last week to prosecute in federal court a man suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda, rather than shipping him off to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sorry, wrong year.

Alabamians and the tussle between President Trump and AG Sessions

If you're curious where Alabama voters, by and large, fall on the topic of President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, consider this: "And to a striking degree in a state where Mr. Trump won 62 percent of the vote last fall, Republicans and Democrats alike have closed ranks around Mr. Sessions, who was the state attorney general before he won a Senate seat four times and joined the president's cabinet. Interviews with voters from four counties, three of which supported Mr. Trump, revealed near-absolute confidence in Mr. Sessions's virtue and conservatism, a swelling of state pride and, in this case at least, an encroaching skepticism of the president."

invigorated with her new role of opposing President Trump.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a rally in Washington against the Republican healthcare bill. Even six months after Donald Trump won the White House, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to talk about election night, preferring to fast-forward to what happened the next day.

a No chaos,a Trump insists as he swears in new chief of staff

Hoping to turn the page on a tumultuous opening chapter to his presidency, President Donald Trump insisted on Monday there is "no chaos" in his White House as he swore in retired Marine Gen. John Kelly as his new chief of staff.

White House to Senate: Pass health bill now or else

" The White House stepped up demands Sunday that the Senate resume efforts to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law, suggesting that lawmakers cancel their entire August recess, if needed, to pass legislation after a stunning series of failed votes last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has declared that it was "time to move on" from health care, scheduling debate early this week on judicial nominations.

White House: Trump to decide soon on letting ‘Obamacare implode’

The White House is insisting that the Senate resume efforts to repeal and replace the nation's health care law, signaling that President Donald Trump stands ready to end required payments to insurers this week to let "Obamacare implode" and force congressional action.