Trump kicks issues to Congress, is erratic trading partner
President Donald Trump is proving to be an erratic trading partner as he kicks thorny policy issues to Congress and then sends conflicting signals about what he really wants.
Category Archives: Lamar Alexander
Obamacare deal hits the skids in Senate
A bipartisan deal to fund Obamacare payments stalled in the Senate Wednesday after President Trump derided the payments as "bailouts," but Republicans behind the package are trying to keep the deal alive. In addition to Trump, who tweeted that he opposes the agreement Wednesday morning, members of Senate leadership on Wednesday cast skepticism about the deal brokered by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., to fund the insurer payments for two years in exchange for changes to the law.
Trump’s Fluid Views on Policy Drive Headaches in Senate
President Donald Trump, seen here Monday at the White House Rose Garden with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has rankled senators with his shifting policy views. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray went to bed Tuesday evening thinking they had hit a home run.
Trump Backs Off Support for Deal Continuing Obamacare Subsidies
As reported by Jon Street , yesterday we learned that Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democrat Sen. Patty Murray reached a "bipartisan deal to continue Cost Reduction Subsidies for ObamaCare." During remarks last night at the Heritage Foundation, President Donald J. Trump seemed to support the Alexander/Murray deal.
The Latest: Senators announce plan for insurance markets
President Donald Trump is backing away from his positive response to a bipartisan Senate proposal to stabilize health insurance markets unsettled by his order to end "Obamacare" low-income subsidies. Speaking in the Rose Garden, Trump had called the deal reached by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington "a short term solution."
A plan to avoid ‘chaos’ – Bipartisan bargain reached to shore up insurance, if GOP agrees
Republican and Democratic senators joined in announcing a plan Tuesday aimed at stabilizing America's health insurance markets in the wake of President Donald Trump's order to terminate "Obamacare" subsidies. Trump himself spoke approvingly of the deal, but some conservatives denounced it as an insurance company bailout, making its future uncertain.
A short-term health deal by senators – with Trump’s blessing
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., accompanied by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, after she and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., say they have the "basic outlines" of a bipartisan deal to resume payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked. WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic senators joined in announcing a plan Tuesday aimed at stabilizing America's health insurance markets in the wake of President Donald Trump's order to terminate "Obamacare" subsidies.
Trump seems supportive of bipartisan two-year deal for Affordable Care Act subsidies
Trump seems supportive of bipartisan two-year deal for Affordable Care Act subsidies President Trump continues to attack the Affordable Care Act, the target of two executive orders he signed last week. Check out this story on publicopiniononline.com: https://usat.ly/2ysT2dz A key Republican senator said Tuesday he's reached a deal with his Democratic counterpart on resuming federal payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked.
Photo: Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., left, accompanied b
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., left, accompanied by Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., right, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, after he and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., say they have the "basic outlines" of a bipartisan deal to resume payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked.
Trump just made a huge move that could blow up Obamacare
President Donald Trump announced Thursday night that he will end the Obamacare cost-sharing reduction payments, a move that could wreck the law's individual insurance exchanges and send healthcare costs soaring for many Americans. Based on guidance from the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that there is no appropriation for cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies under Obamacare," said a statement from the White House.
Trump reaches out to Democrats in bid for a greata health law
Trying to revive health care talks, President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he had spoken to the Senate's Democratic leader to gauge whether the minority party was interested in helping pass "great" health legislation. Trump's latest overture to Democrats follows GOP failures so far to fulfill their yearslong promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act despite controlling the White House and Congress since January.
Schumer to Trump: Obamacare Repeal ‘Off the Table’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday he told President Donald Trump Democratic lawmakers were willing to work with him on making needed fixes to the Affordable Care Act, but that repeal of the law was "off the table," The Hill reported. "The president wanted to make another run at repeal and replace and I told the president that's off the table," Schumer said in a statement about a phone call he had with Trump on Friday.
Trump’s calling Democrats about health care now
In this Sept. 6, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during a meeting with other Congressional leaders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
Bipartisan fix close on Obamacare, but can it pass?
Republicans and Democrats could be on the verge of a bipartisan fix to stabilize Obamacare markets, but it may not matter if enough GOP lawmakers cannot get behind it. Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R- Tennessee, pulled the plug on bipartisan talks to fix Obamacare last week to focus on the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Time for Republicans to accept reality
WITH ONE more repeal-and-replace effort in flames, Republicans face a choice. They can continue to live in a fantasy world in which it is possible simultaneously to uproot Obamacare, slash federal spending on health care and widen health-care coverage.
Alexander Juggles Bipartisan Health Care Deal With GOP Repeal Effort
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has been trying to assemble support for a measure to stabilize the health insurance industry, but could run into interference because of GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act . The Tennessee Republican, who chairs the Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is facing a difficult quandary on health care that Democrats say could undermine a bipartisan reputation he has spent years cultivating and simultaneously determine the fate of the nation's insurance system.
Opinion: How Donald Trump Made Congress Great Again
President Donald Trump's rocky relationship with lawmakers has made Congress free enough to act in the country's best interests, Murphy writes. If you were a member of Congress, especially a Republican member of Congress, you could be forgiven for having at least some contempt for President Donald Trump.
Former Colleagues Reflect on Life of Pete Domenici
Chief Justice Warren Burger with Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., talking over a book at the Capitol Hill Reception for the New Washington Guide Book in 1975. Speaker Paul D. Ryan was a Senate staffer back when Sen. Pete V. Domenici wielded the gavel of the Senate Budget Committee.
Word on the Hill: Kaine and Alexander’s Bipartisan Jam
Music lovers can catch Sen. Tim Kaine , D-Va., on the harmonica and Sen. Lamar Alexander , R-Tenn., on the piano this Friday night. Their band The Amateurs are performing at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion , a music festival this weekend in Bristol, a community that straddles the Virginia-Tennessee state line.
Insurance commissioners say help offered by Congress is not enough to save market
A key Senate committee Wednesday launched a set of hearings intended to lead to a short-term, bipartisan bill to shore up the troubled individual health insurance market, but a diverse group of state insurance commissioners united around some solutions that were not necessarily on the table. Sen. Lamar Alexander , the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at the outset of the hearing he hoped to reach consensus on "a small, bipartisan, stabilization bill" by the end of next week.