The Trumpcare Drum Roll

Drum Roll Please:  Trump celebrated the House passage of Trumpcare with a frat party on the White House lawn.  A few days later he called it a “cold hearted son-of-a-bitch” but promised that the Senate would make it better.  Well, though the final version of Trumpcare is still a secret, enough has leaked out to conclude that, drum roll please, it’s even worse.  Since Trumpcare is really just a tax cut in a frilly hospital gown, the plan still results in a $800 billion cut to Medicaid, transferring the savings to the top 1 or 2% of taxpayers in the form of a tax cut.  Senate Trumpcare cuts the Obamacare Medicaid extension more slowly than the House version but makes up the difference by imposing steeper cuts. Additionally, like the House plan, the Senate plan dramatically changes Medicaid from a federal-state partnership into a block grant program, imposing harsher limitations on per person expenditures so that over time states will be left having to choose between coming up with funds for their growing share or cutting services. Among other things, Medicaid currently pays for 49% of births, 64% of nursing home residents, 30% of adults with disabilities and 60% of children with disabilities so these cuts are bigly bad.  Remember when Trump promised great health care for all and that he wouldn’t touch the safety net.  Forget about it. Like the House version, Senate Trumpcare also defunds Planned Parenthood.  More details should become available later today after Senate Majority Leader McConnell releases the plan to the Republican members of the Senate in a closed session.  Democrats and the public will have to rely on leaks and information provided by Republican lobbyists, who received a copy earlier in the week.   

More Hearings:  Yesterday the House Intelligence Committee heard testimony from Jeh Johnson, Obama’s head of Homeland Security.  Johnson said that there is no question that the Russians, led by Putin, were responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee server and the probing of many state voter databases. Last summer as he became aware of the extent of the hacking he tried to get the DNC to let his cyber security specialists help with their systems but, in a decision they likely regret, they refused his assistance.  When asked why he didn’t alert the public to the Russian hacking, he reminded the Committee that he had, by issuing a statement in October together with then National Intelligence Director James Clapper.  However, because their statement was released the same day that the Trump Access Hollywood tapes went viral the public was too distracted to care. Homeland Security did alert all the states that they were at risk, telling them what IP addresses were being used by the Russian hackers and some of the impacted states did work with Homeland Security to secure their systems.  While Johnson was testifying in front of the House Committee, Dr. Sam Liles, acting director of the Cyber Division of Homeland Security, was in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  He said that the Russians attacked twenty-one states during the 2016 presidential election.  All the intelligence professionals agree that US vulnerabilities continue and that at some point the persistent Russian hackers could change the outcome of a US election.  There is a growing gap between the urgency of the problem and the disregard at the top of the government because Trump still refuses to acknowledge that any hacking took place and he hasn’t put anyone in charge of developing a strategy to protect the election infrastructure.  

Peacemaker For A Day :  Jared Kushner flew to Israel for the day for meetings with Palestinian President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in an effort to kick start the peace process.  While he was gone, Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, together with all the other Democrats on the committee, sent a letter to Chief of Staff Reince Priebus questioning how Kushner, who failed to mention his Russia meetings on forms still has his security clearance.  To date, there has been no response from Priebus.

Trump in Iowa:  Trump was in campaign form yesterday in Iowa.  He bragged about putting coal miners to work, made fun of “bird killing” windmills and said that he would build his big beautiful wall using solar panels, bringing down the cost to Mexico. He took full credit for the “brilliance” of the solar panel idea which was actually proposed to him by a vendor weeks ago.  He called for the enactment of a law that would prohibit immigrants from being eligible for welfare until they’ve been in the US for five years, a law that has been in effect since 1996.  As to Trumpcare, he said that he “can’t guarantee anything,” but he “hopes we’re gonna surprise you with a really good plan,” one with “heart.” Finally, he brushed aside criticism that his cabinet is dominated by millionaires and billionaires by telling the crowd that he “loves all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions I just don’t want a poor person.”  The crowd of “poor” people, who may soon lose their health coverage, ate it up. Sad.  

God Save the Queen: Queen Elizabeth addressed the opening of the new session of Parliament yesterday. As is customary she listed upcoming state visits by foreign leaders but omitted any mention of Trump’s trip which is supposed to take place later in the year. Insulting the Mayor of London following a terrorist attack may have consequences.