Senate poised for showdown

GOP eyes narrow bill to advance goal

WASHINGTON, July 27, (Agencies): US Senate Republicans begin their final push on Thursday to unravel Obamacare, seeking to wrap up their seven-year offensive against former Democratic president Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law that extended insurance coverage to millions.

Republicans leaders hope a pareddown “skinny” bill that repeals several key Obamacare provisions can gain enough support to pass after several attempts at broader legislation failed to win approval earlier this week.

The skinny bill’s details will be released at some point on Thursday, before the Senate embarks on a marathon voting session that could extend into Friday morning. The legislation is expected to eliminate mandates requiring individuals and employers to obtain or provide health insurance, and abolish a tax on medical device manufacturers.

The effort comes after a chaotic twomonth push by Senate Republicans to pass their version of legislation that made it out of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in May.

Members of the party, including President Donald Trump, campaigned on a pledge to repeal and replace what they say is a failing law that allows the government to intrude in people’s healthcare decisions. Republicans were optimistic about the skinny bill’s chances of receiving at least 50 votes in the Senate where they hold a 52-48 majority.

Senator John Cornyn, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said the bill, once

The records also revealed that the department has continued to receive new applications from borrowers who say they were victims of fraud. In total, the department said it received nearly 15,000 applications between Jan. 20 and July 5, mostly from Corinthian borrowers and from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed last year.

The number of new applications is likely approved, would go to a special negotiating committee of lawmakers from both chambers that would reconcile the House and Senate versions into a single piece of legislation.

Republican leaders had tapped a group to craft legislation largely behind closed doors, exposing rifts within the party. While conservatives said the group’s proposals did not go far enough, moderates said they could not support measures estimated to deprive tens of millions of health insurance.

The Senate voted 55-45 on Wednesday against a simple repeal of Obamacare, which would have provided a two-year delay so Congress could work out a replacement. Seven Republicans opposed the bill. On Tuesday, senators rejected the repeal-and-replace plan Republicans had been working on since May.

Votes

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can lose only two Republican votes to pass healthcare legislation. Even then, he would have to call on Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote as head of the Senate. Democrats are united in opposition.

A bipartisan group of 10 governors urged senators in a letter on Wednesday to start over and use a drafting process that includes governors from both parties. Governors of Nevada, Ohio, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Colorado were among those who signed the letter, all of whose states have Republican senators.

The Congressional Budget Office, a

to swell even further, experts say, amid a campaign by many state attorneys general to notify students who might be eligible for loan relief.

Overall, the department said there are more than 65,000 pending claims for relief. Although most come from Corinthian and ITT students, others are from people who attended schools that are still in operation, including DeVry University and the nonpartisan research agency, estimated on Wednesday that a combination of provisions that might go into the skinny bill would lead to 16 million people losing their health coverage by 2026.

It had earlier estimated that the two other bills rejected by the Senate this week would have led to 22 million to 32 million people losing their health insurance by 2026.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republican leaders for crafting a “yet-to-be-disclosed final bill” in secret.

“We don’t know if skinny repeal is going to be their final bill, but if it is, the CBO says it would cause costs to go up, and millions to lose insurance,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

The “skinny bill” is an admittedly lowest-common-denominator approach, and it may not even have the votes to pass, either. But as Republicans search for how to keep their years-long effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare” alive, they’re coming to believe that the “skinny bill” may be the only option left.

“It still keeps it in play,” said Sen Steve Daines of Montana. “It’s threading a needle at the moment, trying to get 51 in the United States Senate.”

The strategy emerged after Republicans barely succeeded earlier this week in opening debate on health legislation in the narrowly divided Senate, winning the procedural vote to do so thanks only to Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie.

University of Phoenix.

Many advocacy groups and some Democrats in Congress have urged the department to clear the backlog, saying the delay has left thousands of borrowers strapped with debt that’s eligible to be erased under existing federal rules.

In June, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that “promises made to students under the current rule will be promises kept” and added that her office was working to discharge more than 16,000 loans that were previously approved to be erased under Obama. (AP)

Trump ‘donates’ to education:

President Donald Trump is donating three months of his salary to the Department of Education.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump chose to give the department $100,000. His first quarter salary donation went to the Department of Interior.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says the donation is being used to pay for a science, technology, engineering and mathematics camp sponsored by the department.

As a candidate, Trump had promised not to take a salary. By law he must be paid, so he is donating the money. Taxpayers can write off such donations, potentially lowering their income taxes.

DeVos says she is grateful for the donation.

The Trump administration proposed a 13 percent cut to the Education Department’s budget. (AP)