Romney: “[Trump] continues with a message of inclusion and bringing people together.”
Donald Trump and Mitt Romney share dinner tonight at Manhattan restaurant Jean Georges. We’ve seldom had a more poignant evocation of the anguish of becoming a Trump dignity wraith.
Schumer plans to make Rep. Price’s confirmation hearing for HHS a into a showcase for and proxy battle over Trump and Ryan’s plans to phase out Medicare and replace it with private insurance and vouchers. That’s a good idea. But we still need to know where everyone in Congress stands, everyone in both house of congress. Here’s the list so far. Lots of members are giving shifty, changing answers to constituents, unwilling to give any clear answer to reporters.
We’re excited to announce that White House economic policy reporter Ylan Mui will be visiting the Hive for a live chat. Ylan covers the Federal Reserve and the economy for the Washington Post, and previously wrote about subprime lending, consumer finance, retail and education. She is a graduate of the Asian American Journalists Association’s Executive Leadership Program and former vice president of the AAJA’s Washington D.C. chapter, and was an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Maryland. Ylan will be answering your questions on Trump’s picks to lead the Treasury and Commerce departments, what his plans to cut back Wall Street regulations could mean, the casualties of his promise to rip up trade deals, and more. Drop those here at or before 2 p.m. on Thursday and stop by then to chat! If you’d like to participate but don’t have Prime, join here.
We are hearing more about the Trump/Ryan plan to phase out Medicare and replace it with private insurance and vouchers. But we’re still hearing much, much less than about Obamacare or a lot of other issues. Obamacare is super important. Don’t get me wrong. But Medicare is a much, much bigger deal. Most DC journalists don’t actually understand what’s being proposed. You think it’s hard getting good insurance when you’re 30 or 50? Try getting good private insurance when you’re 70 or 80.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) says forget about repeal and replace on Obamacare, just repeal will be fine. Once it’s repealed you can look into replacing it. It’s all clear. Republicans still have no plan or even any concept for how you replace Obamacare – at least if ‘replace’ is defined as something that will keep the tens of millions now insured insured. The immediate impact on millions of people will be huge. I’m curious whether they will be able to get this through the senate or indeed, in this form, through the House.
Rep. Tom Price (R) of Georgia is said to be President-Elect Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He is the one who told us little more than a week ago that Congress would move on phasing out Medicare in 6 to 8 months (i.e., early summer 2017). He also predicted and advocated pushing the phaseout through with 50 votes in the Senate.
Most health care policy goes through HHS. So he’s now the administration point man on Medicare phaseout.
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From Government Executive magazine on the ye olde Trump Post Office deluxe hotel …
The Post Office Lease differs from many of Mr. Trump’s other business arrangements. That’s because, in writing the contract, the federal and D.C. governments determined, in advance, that elected officials could play no role in this lease arrangement. The contract language is clear: “No … elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom…”
The language could not be any more specific or clear. Donald Trump will breach the contract on Jan. 20, when, while continuing to benefit from the lease, he will become an “elected official of the Government of the United States.”
As noted yesterday, a lot of what we’re seeing with Mitt Romney is the standard, classic ritual humiliation of Trump opponents. But here’s another possibility for what is going on behind the scenes.