Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Gov. Bill Walker was back in Ketchikan on Thursday, signing two bills into law, one of which Sen. Lisa Murkowski excitedly called "a win-win-win situation!" The governor, who was in town on Saturday for the Blueberry Arts Festival, was already back on Thursday with a whirlwind of handshakes, photo-ops and signatures.
Exchanges between the senior White House adviser and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times and Jim Acosta of CNN became combative at a news briefing on Wednesday. Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell officially announced that she will run against Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Miami, who represents a swing district on Wednesday August 1, 2017.
The Interior Department's internal watchdog is examining phone calls to Alaska's Republican senators from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke seeking support for the GOP health care bill. Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall said her office was launching a "preliminary investigation" of Zinke's July 26 calls to Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
As tens of millions of Americans prepared for the very real possibility they would lose their health care last week, Nevada's U.S. Sen. Dean Heller was doing a whole lot of nervous giggling. In one instance, Heller awkwardly laughed a little too heartily when President Trump casually threatened him on national television after positioning him as his right-hand man at a White House luncheon, asking the country, "Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn't he?" Heller's uncomfortable goofy grin and insincere chuckles spoke volumes, and it was obvious at that moment that he had received the President's message and would choose Trump over his constituents.
Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan speaks at a town hall meeting at Bartlett High School in Anchorage on Saturday, May 20. Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan speaks at a town hall meeting at Bartlett High School in Anchorage on Saturday, May 20. How dare you, Mr. President, from your Twittering perch in distant Washington, threaten a senator from Alaska - or any senator - with damage to her state's share of public interests because she voted not your views but her own carefully considered views on a matter of concern to Alaskans. Apparently you think that Alaskans are so attuned to top-down dictatorial styles of government that they will punish Sen. Lisa Murkowski at the polls at your direction.
After the Senate Thursday night narrowly rejected his ham-handed efforts to ram through an Obamacare repeal that the health care industry, the insurance industry, most governors and the American people did not want, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally got something right. "It's time to move on," he said.
It can seem impossible to keep up with all the news these days, so here's what happened this week in a New York minute. Earlier in the week, the Senate opened debate on healthcare legislation, but Republicans failed to pass a bill replacing Obamacare, one simply repealing much of it, and a "skinny repeal" bill.
With Sen. John McCain casting a dramatic decisive vote, the Senate early Friday morning narrowly defeated a scaled back bill dismantling the 2010 health law, leaving in question the future of GOP promises to repeal the law known as Obamacare. The 49-51 defeat capping hours of drama on the Senate floor - left open the question of whether congressional Republicans can carry through with a key 2016 key promise to repeal the law known as Obamacare.
Senator John McCain was one of three Republican "no" votes against the GOP health care plan early Friday morning, and is being hailed as the man who killed the so-called Obamacare "skinny repeal." "We should not make the mistakes of the past that has led to Obamacare's collapse, including in my home state of Arizona where premiums are skyrocketing and health care providers are fleeing the marketplace," McCain said in a statement.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned that the Republican failure to pass a bill to repeal parts of Obamacare will disappoint Republican voters around the country who were told the GOP was going to dismantle the law. "There are going to be a great many Americans who tonight feel a sense of betrayal, feel a sense of betrayal that politicians stood up and made a promise," Cruz said early Friday morning.
In a moment of high drama on the Senate floor, the Arizona senator, stricken with brain cancer and railing against his party's secretive legislative maneuvering, provided the decisive vote against Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's proposal to partially repeal the Affordable Care Act. The amendment fell, xx-xx, thwarting once again the GOP's longstanding efforts to deliver on a central campaign promise.
Trump's ire fell on Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, who on Tuesday voted "no" to moving a health care repeal bill to the Senate floor for debate. After the vote, Then, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reportedly called Murkowski and the state's other Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, to inform them Murkowski's move would not be forgotten.
Senators early Friday narrowly rejected a dramatically slimmed-down Obamacare repeal bill, even after being promised by GOP leaders that the measure would never actually become law. The strategy was a desperate and ultimately unsuccessful gambit by Republican leaders, who had run out of options after failing to convince their majority to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a promised new healthcare plan.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, arrives for a vote as the Republican-run Senate rejected a GOP proposal to scuttle President Barack Obama's health care law and give Congress two years to devise a replacement, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, at the Capitol in Washington.
Steve Jobs' widow and her boyfriend holiday in Croatia on the $100million yacht the late Apple founder built but never got to use Aide to ex-DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is arrested at DC airport while trying to LEAVE the country for Pakistan and charged with bank fraud What NOT to say in the office if you want to be respected: The most infuriating workplace jargon revealed - including 'touch base' and 'blue sky thinking' President Trump goes after Sen. Lisa Murkowski by name for not voting with other Republicans in favor of starting debate of an Obamacare repeal Go commando, have a 'safe' threesome and SHAVE each other: How to take your sex life from dull to daring without going the full Fifty Shades Chipotle is blaming one sick employee for its $1 billion in value loss after dozens of customers fell ill with norovirus Trump takes a victory lap with Melania after keeping his plan ... (more)
Senate Republicans clear key hurdle on Obamacare repeal, but the hard part is still ahead "This is just the beginning," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after the vote. Check out this story on thestarpress.com: https://usat.ly/2v4pVPb Vice President Mike Pence was the tie-breaking vote as the Senate voted to advance the GOP health care bill that aims to repeal and replace Obamacare.
President Donald Trump's critics view Republican congressmen as his enablers. James Fallows, in the Atlantic, describes their behavior as the most discouraging weakness our governing system has shown since Trump took office.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has unanimously passed the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2018 Bill - which includes important components for Alaska. The bill requires clear labeling for genetically engineered salmon, allows rural areas to receive summer food services programs in innovative ways, increases fish allowed in WIC programs, and ensures pregnant women receive adequate information about eating seafood during pregnancy.