Top Stories Today – Mar 28, 2019
Top Stories Today – Mar 28, 2019
Trump, GOPs fighting over Obamacare
President Trump is pressuring Republicans to produce a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, a request the GOP considers unrealistic in a divided Congress and politically perilous ahead of the 2020 elections. Senate Republicans think that’s White House’s job, The Washington Post reports.
Hours after meeting with Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Tuesday, Trump spoke on the phone with a handful of senators, urging them to write a new law — even though the party failed to coalesce around a plan when it controlled the House and Senate for two years. The White House has no proposal in the works, according to administration officials, but Trump wants Republicans to pass a bill before his reelection effort that would do what Obamacare does — provide coverage to millions of Americans. The Washington Post
MP reject all alternative Brexit options
A first attempt by MPs to find a consensus route forward for Brexit has ended in deadlock and confusion after the Commons rejected every option put forward, albeit with a near-even split on the idea of joining a customs union.
Oliver Letwin, the veteran Conservative MP who led the process which allowed backbenchers to seize control of the order paper to hold a series of indicative votes, said the results were “disappointing” but he hoped a new round of votes would be held on Monday. The Speaker, John Bercow, said he would allow this to take place, prompting shouts of protests from many MPs. The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, said the results strengthened the government’s view that Theresa May’s Brexit deal was the best and only way forward. The Guardian
Judge strikes down Medicaid work rules
A federal judge today blocked new work requirements on Medicaid recipients for a second time, dealing another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the safety net health care program. US District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled that the federal government failed to justify that adding employment conditions and other changes to Medicaid in Arkansas and Kentucky advanced Medicaid’s basic purpose of providing health coverage.
More than 18,000 low-income adults in Arkansas were thrown off Medicaid last year for failing to meet requirements that they work or participate in another job-related activity for at least 80 hours per month in order to keep their health care. State data show that few have reapplied, with only 1,900 reenrolling in the first two months of this year, and many Medicaid enrollees have described a confusing system that makes it difficult to comply with the rules. Politico
Comey: Trump lied about the FBI
Former FBI Director James Comey says he hopes Attorney General William Barr’s four-page letter summarizing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report establishes “to all people no matter where they are on the spectrum, that the FBI is not corrupt, not a nest of vipers, of spies, but an honest group of people trying to find out what is true.”
During an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt airing Wednesday, Comey said despite President Trump spreading lies about the FBI in an attempt to discredit efforts to get to the bottom of Russian interference in the 2016 election, “the institutions will be fine, because the American people know them and also know this president, know what he’s like. I think the people of the United States are going to see what I know about the FBI: These are people who are not in anyone’s tribe; they’re trying to find the facts.” NBC News via The Week
Thousands stranded by WOW airline failure
Iceland’s Wow Air has stopped flights, stranding thousands of passengers. Its website says Wow Air has ceased operations and cancelled all flights. Wow says passengers needing to travel should book with other airlines. The carrier, which had been in funding talks with investors, flew from London Stansted and Gatwick in the UK. It said some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, and it would publish information on those when it becomes available.
The travel editor of the Independent, Simon Calder, said in these situations other airlines would step in as they did not seek to make money out of “a bad situation”. He said passengers should not spend “a fortune on alternative flights unless you were in a real hurry”. Airlines including Wizz Air, Easyjet and Norwegian were offering flights, he added. BBC