Lindsey Graham on health care: 'We should be politically horsewhipped if we don't try this again'

Sen. Lindsey Graham tells Fox News the Republicans deserve to be “politically horsewhipped” if they don't try again to repeal and replace ObamaCare -- and on Monday he revealed details of his new plan.

Despite rocky results in the Senate last week, Graham, R-S.C., is urging the Senate to continuing working on alternatives.

Speaking to Dana Perino on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on Monday night, Graham advocated for his own alternative: a plan that he has assembled with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy.
Under the Graham-Cassidy plan, federal dollars spent on Obamacare would be block-granted to states. Additionally, the individual and employer mandate would be repealed; requirements that health insurers would cover pre-existing conditions would be kept; and the ObamaCare medical device tax would be cut. Other ObamaCare taxes would remain.
TRUMP TARGETS CONGRESS MEMBERS' OWN HEALTH PLANS AFTER OBAMACARE REPEAL FALLS FLAT
“I am, like, 1,000 percent with Donald Trump on this,” Graham said. “We should be politically horsewhipped if we don’t try again. The best idea we haven’t even brought up. Take all the money under ObamaCare and block-grant it back to the states,” he said.
“That ends single-payer health care. The government closest to the people is the best government. The health care closest to the people is the best health care. We had Republican governors up in the White House today… we look to Washington to fix ObamaCare, we should’ve looked to the governors.”
“I’m excited about Graham-Cassidy, which empowers governors,” Graham said. “Four states under ObamaCare get 40 percent of the money: New York, California, Massachusetts and Maryland. My goal is to make sure that if you live in South Carolina you get the same amount of money from the federal government as you would if you lived in California with more flexibility. It’ll put Democrats in a box. It will make health care more accessible to you. If you don’t like what’s going on, you complain to your governor or your statehouse guy, rather than a bureaucrat in Washington. I’m so excited about this. Mr. President, don’t let us quit! Make us keep trying. I think we can pass this bill to block grant the money back to the states.”
Whether Graham’s legislation would make it to a vote wasn’t exactly clear but the senator said he remained hopeful.
SENATE HEALTH CARE BILL: REPUBLICANS RELEASE DRAFT OF NEW PLAN
“If we took a really principled position on health care, that we should send the money back home, closest to the patient, and had hearings and votes in the normal course of business, then we could get this done,” Graham said.
“West Virginia, under my approach, gets 43 percent more money than under ObamaCare with more flexibility,” he explained. “So the bottom line is, by 2026, we want to make sure that every state gets the same block granting. And Mr. President, you make sure that we try this before we say we failed. We haven’t even begun to fight yet.”
Asked to discuss a recent White House shake-up that saw Anthony Scaramucci ousted as the White House Communications Director on Monday, Graham deflected. “None of this matters if we’re successful,” he said. “If we fail on health care I don’t care who he hires.”
A couple of Democratic proposals for health care changes have emerged.
Under one by Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Tom Carper of Delaware, the federal government would help pay larger than expected claims for insurers providing coverage on the federal and state online marketplaces established by Obama's law.
Another by Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri would let people in counties where no insurers offer policies on exchanges buy the same coverage that members of Congress purchase. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated last week that exchanges would offer no coverage next year in 40 of the country's roughly 3,000 counties.

Trump administration hits Venezuela's Maduro with sanctions after 'sham' vote

The Trump administration hit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with financial sanctions on Monday in the wake of a weekend election that gave the country’s ruling party virtually unlimited powers.

The sanctions follow through on a U.S. threat to take action against Maduro and his socialist government if they went ahead with Sunday's election, which the administration decried as a “sham.”

“All options are on the table, and we will consider everything,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at Monday’s White House briefing.
The sanctions freeze any assets Maduro may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with him. They were outlined in a brief notice by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control ahead of a White House announcement.
The monetary impact of the sanctions wasn't immediately clear as Maduro's holdings in U.S. jurisdictions, if he has any, weren't publicized. However, imposing sanctions on a head of state is rare and can be symbolically powerful, leading other countries to similarly shun such a leader. For example, the U.S. has had sanctions against Syria's President Bashar Assad since 2011.
"Yesterday's illegitimate elections confirm that Maduro is a dictator who disregards the will of the Venezuelan people," Mnuchin said. "By sanctioning Maduro, the United States makes clear our opposition to the policies of his regime and our support for the people of Venezuela who seek to return their country to a full and prosperous democracy."
He warned of further U.S. penalties against Maduro allies.
"Anyone who participates in this illegitimate (constituent assembly) could be exposed to future U.S. sanctions for their role in undermining democratic processes and institutions in Venezuela," Mnuchin said.
Officials had said the sanctions could target Venezuela's oil sector, including possibly its state-owned petroleum company.
But after the announcement, an official said Trump's administration held off due to possible complications, including some involving subsidiaries. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the process and demanded anonymity.
The assembly will draw up a new constitution that many believe is aimed only at securing Maduro's increasingly authoritarian rule. On Monday, Venezuela's government said the election had given it a popular mandate to dramatically recast the political system, despite widespread claims of low voter turnout.
The Trump administration was quick to denounce the vote.
"Maduro's sham election is another step toward dictatorship," Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on Twitter. "We won't accept an illegit govt. The Venezuelan ppl & democracy will prevail."
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the new assembly "is designed to replace the legitimately elected National Assembly and undermine the Venezuelan people's right to self-determination."

Sen. Susan Collins Cartoons

Trump strong-arms ObamaCare back to table; holdout Collins says 'job is not done'

Senate Republicans ended July in humiliating and seemingly final defeat over repealing and replacing ObamaCare, but relentless pressure this weekend from President Trump and reports of yet another potentially winning bill has sparked renewed hope of success within the party.  

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reportedly has a new overhaul plan for the Senate, where senators will returned Monday because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has revoked the first two weeks of their traditional August recess.

Trump also met privately with several Senate Republicans on Friday, according to Politico, which also first reported about the Graham proposal.
The president then launched into a very public Twitter rant this weekend in which he said Senate Republicans “look like fools” for trying and failing for essentially the entire month to pass an overhaul plan.
“It’s time to move on,” McConnell, R-Ky., said Friday, after the last repeal attempt failed.
The president -- sounding desperate to fulfill a major campaign promise in ending ObamaCare -- also suggested McConnell lower the vote threshold from 60 to 51 votes and that he might yank the subsidies that members of Congress receive to pay for their ObamaCare policies.
“The world is watching,” Trump said in a final, chiding tweet Sunday morning.
Beyond taking away Congress’ subsidies, Trump also hinted at ending subsidies to insurance companies that offer policies under ObamaCare.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump will make that decision “this week.”
She also called the subsidies received by congressional members and their staffers a “really sweet deal” and argued, “This is exactly what so many Americans hate about Washington, D.C.”
“The president will not accept those who said it is, quote, time to move,” she also said.
Trump said Friday after the failed votes, as he has before, that he aimed to let the 2010 health care law “implode” under its own weight of rising premium costs and few insurance policy options.
However, he and essentially every Washington Republican have been elected on a promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
The GOP-led House passed its overhaul measure this spring, but not without the same kinds of problems faced by the Republican-led Senate, include how to get support from all wings of the party.
They are divided on such key issues as whether Medicaid should be expanded and whether subsidies should continue to be provided to insurance companies, apparently for low-income families to pay for policies.
The Senate has 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats and Independents who vote, or caucus, together.
Democrats say they are willing to work on solutions to ObamaCare but so far have not participated in the process.
The GOP-controlled House and Senate for the past several years have passed dozens of either full- or partial-repeal measures. But they have failed to do so since Trump, a fellow Republican, took office in January.
Several GOP senators have balked at the recent measure and amendments, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
Collins said Sunday that the ObamaCare issue remains unsettled and that the Senate must get back to work.
“Our job is not done,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There are serious problems with (ObamaCare.) ... And I certainly hope the administration does not do anything in the meantime to hasten that collapse.”

North Korea threat: Japan's Abe says he and Trump agree to take further action

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he and President Donald Trump agreed to take further action against North Korea following its latest missile launch.

Abe told reporters after the call that Trump pledged to “take all necessary measures to protect” Japan and that Abe praised his commitment to do so.

He also called on China and Russia to do more to stop Pyongyang.
“We have made consistent efforts to resolve the North Korean problem in a peaceful manner, but North Korea has ignored that entirely and escalated the situation in a one-sided way,” Abe said, according to Bloomberg. “The international community, starting with China and Russia, must take this obvious fact seriously and increase pressure.”
Abe said Japan would pursue concrete steps to bolster defense system and capabilities under the firm solidarity with the U.S. and do utmost to protect the safety of the Japanese people.
The White House said in a statement after the phone call that the two leaders “agreed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and other countries near and far,” Reuters reported.
The call between the two world leaders comes hours after the U.S., Japanese and South Korea militaries spent 10 hours conducting bomber-jet drills over the Korean peninsula.
The training mission was a response to North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches and nuclear program, and part of the U.S. regular commitment to defending its allies in the Asia-Pacific region, the general’s statement said.
"The time for talk is over. The danger the North Korean regime poses to international peace is now clear to all," said United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in a statement.
North Korea conducted test launches of ICBMs on July 3 and July 28, and has claimed that its weapons can now reach the U.S. mainland.
On Saturday, two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, under the command of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, joined counterparts from the South Korean and Japanese air forces in sequenced bilateral missions.

Trump Insider Talk White House Shake-up

Washington, D.C.- Emerald Robinson, Political Correspondent
The announcement of a key change-up in White House late Friday came as a surprise, although it clearly isn’t the first time this administration has made big announcements as the weekend begins. Frank Buckley, a speech-writer for President Trump and administration insider, says it was a necessary change to promote the President’s agenda. “He had his mission and his mission was to be a bridge to the congressional Republicans and they weren’t having it, so good-bye Reince!” said Buckley.
Buckley, who also helped assemble a foreign policy team for President Trump, says bringing in General John Kelly as Chief-of-Staff is a smart move and probably signals a change in the tone of the administration. He says it could be a movement in a more aggressive direction after the President’s disappointment with health care and in his dealing with Congress.
“Up to now in respect to dealing with Obamacare, the message has been ‘ok we’ll put it over to Congress and we’ll let the congressional Republicans deal with it.’ And that didn’t work very well, so now something else has to be tried,’ explained Buckley.
And that something else is getting more Trump loyalists into the White House according to the Trump insider. Buckley says there is not enough Trump “loyalists” in the White House. He added that many of those hired were hired on a temporary basis and phased out after a six-month period. He attributes this lack of loyalists to former Chief-of-Staff Reince Preibus.
Buckley also said White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is a good move, even after his highly publicized rant this week against Reince Preibus to the New Yorker. Buckley added that sometimes “few obscene words are necessary to describe a situation.”
Buckley warned that the White House has to get it’s act together and find its real allies so that the President can press on with his agenda. Buckley said his hope is that under General John Kelly’s guidance, the White House can do just that.

Nikki Haley: Venezuela Vote ‘A Sham’

American Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemns Venezuela over its recent vote to create a constituent assembly, calling it a ‘sham’. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks out against the Venezuelan government, calling its election a ‘sham’.
She took to Twitter on Sunday, saying America won’t accept Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to rewrite the country’s constitution and create an illegitimate government.
Haley said Maduro’s election for a new constitutional super-body is ‘a step toward dictatorship’, and claimed both democracy and the Venezuelan people will prevail.
The U.S. State Department made a statement Sunday evening, condemning the Venezuelan government for the vote.
It claimed the new body seems designed to undermine Venezuelan people’s right to self-determination.

Loose Lips Sink Ships Cartoons