How House Republicans won those final health care votes

How did House GOP leaders win the final votes to pass their health care legislation? Will President Trump make a big decision on climate change before he meets with the Pope? These questions and more are answered in this week's "Inside Politics" forecast, where you get tomorrow's headlines today.

Collins on all-male healthcare working group: ‘The leaders…

Susan Collins Collins on all-male healthcare working group: 'The leaders obviously chose the people they want' Collins: 'The Senate is starting from scratch' on healthcare Sunday shows preview: Republicans tout healthcare vote MORE on Sunday brushed off a question about why she is not part of an all-male group of senators working on the Republican bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare. "Well, the leaders obviously chose the people they want," Collins said in a Sunday interview on ABC's "This Week."

How House GOP won final health care votes

How did House GOP leaders win the final votes to pass their health care legislation? Will President Trump make a big decision on climate change before he meets with the Pope? These questions and more are answered in this week's "Inside Politics" forecast, where you get tomorrow's headlines today. Promises of what political consultants call "air cover" helped House GOP leaders get to the finish line in last week's Obamacare repeal-and-replace vote.

Price defends cutting nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, after the House pushed through a health care bill. BRANCHBURG, N.J.>> Cutting nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid will give states the freedom to tailor the program to suit their needs, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Sunday, as he defended a narrowly passed House bill that aims to undo parts of the health care law enacted by the previous administration.

House Republicans voted to weaken health care, hurt the poor and cut taxes for the wealthy

President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House after the House pushed through a health-care bill on Thursday. How bad is the health care plan approved Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives? Doctors , hospitals , the March of Dimes , Gov. Paul LePage and Republican senators are among the long list of groups who criticized the House vote because it will strip millions of Americans of health insurance and make it more expensive, and less comprehensive, for millions more.

Unganged, or how the Senate learned to stop worrying and love the Reid Option

Perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of the showdown in the Senate this week was the lack of any visibly organized compromise effort. In 2005, when the upper chamber headed for a similar showdown over filibusters on judicial confirmations, a bipartisan group of 14 Senators led by John McCain imposed a compromise.

After Amtrak derailments, Booker and Menendez seek to block Trump’s transit cuts

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker asked leaders of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing transportation to ensure federal funding for Amtrak and the Gateway Tunnel project. Their letter to U.S. Sens. Susan Collins , the subcommittee chairwoman, and Jack Reed , the ranking Democrat, came after Amtrak acknowledged responsibility for two recent derailments that tied up NJ Transit train traffic for days.

61 Senators sign letter to preserve filibuster rules

A bipartisan group of 61 senators sent a letter to Senate leaders Friday urging them to maintain the 60-vote threshold for filibusters involving legislation, which they said is needed to ensure bipartisanship remains a component of passing bills through the chamber. The move comes in the wake of a contentious battle this week in the Senate over the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch when the Republicans who control the chamber used the "nuclear option" to neutralize the filibuster for nominees to the Supreme Court.

Read Lindsey Graham’s Speech on the Court, Filibuster, and Future of the Senate

The Senate is unique among American political bodies in that its very rules and traditions have often been the basis for consequential oratory. Such was the case on Thursday, when South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham delivered a 3,000-word speech on the nuclear option and its devastating effect on the Senate.

GOP senators see CBO report as call to change plan

Some Senate Republican responded to the release of a Congressional Budget Office report Monday -- which found that up to 24 million more Americans would be without health insurance within 10 years under a Republican health care plan --- by saying that they expect the House proposal to be changed in the Senate. "The bill's likely to change in the House and again in the Senate," said Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, after the CBO report was released.

First lady Melania Trump hosts International Women’s Day luncheon

She arrived to a standing round of applause in the State Dining room in the afternoon, wearing a sleeveless black dress and walking toward a small podium under a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln. First daughter Ivanka Trump, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, GOP Sen. Susan Collins, second lady Karen Pence and her daughter, Charlotte Pence, were also present for the luncheon.

Former DNI James Clapper says Trump claim of wiretap is false

Former DNI James Clapper says Trump claim of wiretap is false Trump's accusation of Obama wiretap at Trump Tower is disputed Check out this story on thetimesherald.com: http://usat.ly/2n2Vfp8 James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, says there was no court order to monitor Donald Trump's phones. WASHINGTON - Former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said Sunday he would have known and that there were no wiretaps at Trump Tower or against Donald Trump or his campaign during his tenure.