GOPers Try To Have ACA And Repeal It Too, Cotton: Trump Wants ‘Merit-Based Immigration’ And On Liberal Optimism

March 8, 2017 10:33 a.m.

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March 8, 2017

The Gist: Less than 24 hours after its unveiling, the House bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act was engulfed in a firestorm of criticism from the left, right, and center of the political spectrum.

Trump Promised Cheaper Insurance For Everyone. Price Says That’s ‘The Goal’

The Gist: The secretary of Health and Human Services dodged questions on insurance affordability under House Republicans’ proposed replacement for Obamacare on Wednesday.

Cotton: Trump Wants A Bill To Create ‘Merit-Based’ Immigration System

The Gist: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said on Wednesday morning that in a meeting Tuesday with President Donald Trump and Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), the President told the senators to work on a bill to make the legal immigration system “merit-based.”

From The Reporter’s Notebook

President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied what he called “fake news” reports of “big infighting” in his administration, TPM’s Esme Cribb reported. “We are getting along great,” he tweeted from the official @POTUS account. But after a tumultuous end to the week, Trump reportedly spent the weekend extremely frustrated with his staff for an unfavorable news cycle after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from an investigation into any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Agree or Disagree?

Josh Marshall: “The problem is that over the course of seven years Republicans have essentially accepted the premise of the ACA: which is to say, the people who got coverage under the ACA should have coverage. That’s what’s made ‘replace’ all but impossible. That’s why we’ve heard years of claims that the replacement would be even better. Even more people would be covered. The coverage would be better. The deductibles would be lower – even though a key element of GOP health insurance policy is that deductibles should be higher. “

Say What?!

“What matters is that we’re the lowering costs of health care and giving people access to affordable health care plans. The government will always win the war on government-run plans, saying, if we mandate everybody buys what we say they have to buy, then the government will always estimate that they’ll buy it.”

– House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Tuesday called estimates that millions of people could lose health care coverage under an Obamacare replacement a “bogus” metric, and said lowering costs for everyone was more important.

BUZZING: Today in the Hive

From a TPM Prime member: “Trump in the office of the President accused a private citizen, Barack Obama, (although still very public person) of an incredibly serious crime. Someone remind me if I am wrong, but I cannot remember that ever happening from any President, recent at least. Name calling yes, but he accused him of a serious crime. The starting point of real and serious allegations should not be by public promulgation from our President. So, I would hope this would get pounded into the ground, these are highly serious allegations, they have proper channels, and Trump did something horrifically wrong going outside those channels. And, I do not want to over react. I mean, how we can continuously react to the countless pieces of nonsense from Trump like this? I really just do not know if there is any appropriate response. Regardless, we, as well as journalists, cannot write him off as a lunatic until the bulk of the country decides that he is indeed.”

Related: Trump Hasn’t Asked FBI Director About Claims Obama Wiretapped Him

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What We’re Reading

Is There a Case for Liberal Optimism in the Trump Era? (The Atlantic)

International Women’s Day has been stripped of its radical roots. That’s about to change. (Fusion)

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