Spineless Senate Republicans “On Edge” as Trump Threatens Another Toxic GOP Health Care Plan [The Hill]

GOP strategist: “Republicans have no credibility when it comes to health care.”

After voters across the country rejected Republicans’ toxic health care agenda last year, President Trump is eager to unveil yet another plan to spike costs, gut coverage protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and drag down the quality of care for millions of Americans.

As vulnerable Senate Republicans scramble to again distance themselves from their reckless record on this key issue, which remains at the front of voters’ minds, the DSCC is holding them accountable – launching digital ads calling out Senate Republicans’ refusal to stand up to their party’s dangerous lawsuit that threatens to drive up costs and end protections for people with pre-existing conditions and for maternity care, as well as keeping kids on their parents’ insurance until age 26.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Hill: Trump’s health care focus puts GOP on edge

By Alexander Bolton

Key Points:

• President Trump has put the issue of health care back on the political front burner, providing ammunition to Democrats and worrying Republicans who think a new battle over ObamaCare will hurt their party in next year’s elections.

• Senate Republicans, defending 22 seats next year, thought they had put ObamaCare repeal behind them when they told Trump earlier this year that they have no intention of acting on a health care overhaul before the election.

• But Trump threw the issue back at them in an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday, saying his administration will unveil “something terrific” to overhaul the nation’s health care system “in a month.”

• The administration filed a legal brief in May calling for an appeals court to strike down all of ObamaCare. This represented a switch, first revealed in March, days after special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was filed with the Department of Justice, from the administration’s earlier position that only portions of the law should be struck down.

• Polls show why Republicans are nervous about ObamaCare.

• A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll published earlier this month showed that 24 percent of respondents nationwide think health care should be the federal government’s top priority, and Democrats lead Republicans on the issue by 8 points.

• Democrats also won back the House majority last fall largely by talking about health care and the GOP’s failed effort to repeal ObamaCare.

• “It’s been a loser of an issue for them,” said John Weaver, a GOP strategist who previously worked for former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “In the last cycle it was one of the main causes for them losing the House.”

• “You think he would be focused on the economy,” Weaver said. “Republicans have no credibility when it comes to health care.”

Read the full story here.

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