Progressive Breakfast: The Republican Bid to Kill the ACA Is a Trojan Horse

MORNING MESSAGE

Julie Chinitz
The Republican Bid to Kill the ACA Is a Trojan Horse
The changes that House GOP leaders are proposing for our health care are radical — far more radical than repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) standing alone. The House GOP plan uses ACA repeal as a Trojan horse for throwing health care for more than 74 million people into chaos. That’s the number covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, including everyone from newborns to the very old.

ELLISON HAS AN EDGE

The Hill declares Keith Ellison in the lead for DNC Chair: “The Hill has identified the stances of 240 DNC members, either through their private responses to a survey circulated over the past week or from public endorsements. Out of those who responded, Ellison leads with 105 supporters to Perez’s 57. The remaining major candidates have less than a dozen supporters each … it appears likely the race will head to multiple rounds … each campaign claims that their private whip lists promise even more votes …”
Howard Dean endorses Mayor Pete Buttigieg. W. Examiner: “Buttigieg is ‘the outside-the-Beltway’ choice Dean said on Morning Joe on MSNBC Wednesday. ‘Our party is old and creaky, including me,’ Dean said, citing Buttigieg’s age, 35 … Dean argued Buttigieg …could win the chairmanship race on the second ballot, calling him ‘everyone’s second choice.'”
GOP eager to tar Sen. Warren. Politico: “…Republicans are in search of a figure so reviled by the conservative base that he or she motivates donors to open their wallets and voters to go the polls. Party strategists believe the liberal Massachusetts senator’s brand of politics is a serious turnoff to voters outside the coasts — and will be a liability for at least five Democrats up for reelection in states President Donald Trump easily won … It’s not a surefire play for Republicans. Warren electrifies the Democratic base more than perhaps any other senator…”

TRUMP MOVES ON DEPORTATIONS

Trump’s Homeland Security sets policy to allow for increased deportations. NYT: “Documents released on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security revealed the broad scope of the president’s ambitions: to publicize crimes by undocumented immigrants; strip such immigrants of privacy protections; enlist local police officers as enforcers; erect new detention facilities; discourage asylum seekers; and, ultimately, speed up deportations … For now, so-called Dreamers … will not be targeted unless they commit crimes [but] millions of immigrants in the country illegally now face a far greater likelihood of being discovered, arrested and eventually deported.”
Mexico pushes back. Politico: “The Trump administration riled Mexican officials by choosing Tuesday — on the eve of visits by the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to Mexico City — to release sweeping guidelines on deportations and a border wall … It also could hurt America’s ability to gain Mexico’s cooperation on enforcing the new guidelines … When it comes to deportations, for example, ‘you can’t just leave people in the middle of a bridge — this has to be negotiated with the Mexicans,’ said [a U.S.] diplomat…”
Deportations could hurt economy. Bloomberg: “…one study [is] suggesting that removing all of them would cost the economy as much as $5 trillion over 10 years … [The plan] would hit industries that already complain of worker shortages …”
And housing market. Bloomberg: “Legal and otherwise, immigrants, long a pillar of growth in homebuying, are no longer feeling the warm welcome and optimism necessary for their biggest purchase … A third of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. live in a home that they or a family member or friend own … New arrivals are expected to account for more than a third of growth of homeowners this decade …
“White House creates confusion about future of Trump’s travel ban” reports Politico: “The Justice Department told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week that Trump will ‘rescind…and replace’ the original order … But White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at the conclusion of his daily briefing Tuesday that Trump will not rescind the original order. Instead, the first order is being updated … His statements seemed to leave open the possibility that there could be two orders in effect at once — a situation that could complicate efforts to defend the new order in court.”
Speaker Ryan visits border today. Politico: “The visit comes just weeks before Trump will formally ask Congress for a boatload of money to fund construction of the wall … While waiting on the president’s request, which could reach as much as $20 billion, Republican leaders have discussed moving a border security bill … [But] Trump and Homeland Security have not even finalized their own plan … Democrats on the Congressional Border Caucus, meanwhile, are on a counter-mission, hosting a series of meetings in border towns about how Trump’s wall will harm [their] communities.”

BREAKFAST SIDES

Trump may pursue version of school vouchers. Politico: “The Trump administration is considering a first-of-its-kind federal tax credit scholarship program that would channel billions of dollars to families from working-class households to enable their children to attend private schools, including religious schools … Public school advocates say such a tax credit is a voucher program in disguise and would divert tax dollars from struggling public schools … Critics on the right, meanwhile, worry such a plan would increase the federal role in education…”
Iowa farmers warns Sen. Chuck Grassley not to take away his insurance. HuffPost: “A pig farmer confronted Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) at a town hall meeting … Chris Peterson, 62, told the senator that he has diabetes and that he would not be able to afford health insurance if not for the Affordable Care Act. ‘You’re the man that talks about the death panel,’ Peterson said at the packed town hall in Iowa Falls. ‘We’re gonna create one great big death panel in this country [if] people can’t afford to get insurance. Don’t repeal Obamacare, improve it.'”
Deadline for Dakota Access Pipeline protesters. NYT: “… the Army Corps of Engineers and North Dakota’s governor have ordered that the largest protest camp — which sits on federal land — be cleared by 2 p.m. local time on Wednesday because of flooding concerns … It remained uncertain how many of those still camped out would heed the evacuation order and how the authorities would respond to anyone who refused to leave. But Mike Nowatzki, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Burgum, told The Associated Press that arrests were possible if people refused to leave.”
Trump may rollback transgender protections. NYT: “The administration signaled that an announcement was imminent on the question of whether transgender students should be able to use the bathroom of their choosing — and that Mr. Trump could well come down differently from his predecessor … Mr. Trump believes that ‘this is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government,’ Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday.”

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