Senator Johnson offers an out that Senators Johnson, Graham, Cassidy, and Heller should take right away

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after Sen. Ron Johnson outlined exactly why regular order should be chosen over the current frantic, reckless approach to passing a health care bill that America’s doctors, hospitals, and countless other nonpartisan medical experts are warning would ​cost millions of Americans their healthcare and slam Americans with preexisting conditions:

“Senator Johnson’s blueprint for what should happen if this Trumpcare bill fails is precisely what Senate Republicans should have done ​years ago – and it’s not too late to prevent ​a train-​w​reck of their own making​.  If Senate Republicans actually held hearings and worked in a bipartisan fashion​,​ they would  ​learn a great deal from the overwhelming majority of Americans who want them to improv​e​ the Affordable Care Act and abandon ​Trumpcare. They ought to take that approach instead of forcing this bill upon the country despite objections from countless experts and healthcare officials.”

VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPT:

JONATHAN SCOTT: What […]

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Trump Economy Jobs Report: 191,480+ Announced Layoffs

No amount of phony press conferences or twitter tantrums can erase the damage Trump’s chaos, scandals, and ethical clouds are doing to the economy.  Nearly 250 days into his tenure Trump has done nothing to follow through on his campaign promise to begin a large-scale rebuilding of the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

Here is a look at Trump’s time in office by the numbers:

191,486 American workers have received pink slips since Trump took office
126 foreign workers have been requested by Trump Organization businesses
83 days wasted by Trump hanging out at his own properties
17,941 American jobs lost shipped overseas since Trump entered the Oval Office
21,600,000 dollars spent on Trump’s fancy vacation getaways

Read more at TrumpEconomy.com

“From fancy port-a-potys to golf cart rentals the costs for Donald Trump vacations are piling up into the tens of millions with American taxpayers stuck paying the tab,” said American Bridge Vice President Shripal Shah.  “Adding injury to insult, nearly two-hundred-thousand Americans have lost their jobs […]

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Sanders Questions: Lock Him Up Edition

The President spent the weekend in a Twitter feud, private email accounts are back in the news, and the Republicans are trying to take away your health care.Time really is a flat circle.

American Bridge Rapid Response Director Emily Aden calls on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to answer the following questions:

1. Does President Trump support prosecuting and jailing Jared Kushner for conducting government business over private email on a private server?

2. Why has President Trump been silent about the devastation affecting millions of Americans on the island of Puerto Rico?

3. Was Steve Bannon’s attempt to infiltrate Facebook with a mole shortly before taking over the Trump campaign an attempt to coordinate the spread of fake news from Russian bots to help Trump win?

4. When is President Trump going to fire HHS Secretary Tom Price for abusing taxpayer dollars?

5. What does the White House say to the following groups representing millions of Americans united […]

Read more after the jump.

Violating pledge, Donald Trump is trying to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after it was reported that, contradicting assurances made by Donald Trump himself and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s tax reform plan will indeed include a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans:

“At the same time that he’s trying to take healthcare from 32 million Americans, Donald Trump is breaking his pledge from just weeks ago and using tax reform not to pursue the creation of good-paying middle class jobs, but to give a windfall to the richest Americans. Trump is a con artist who is hell-bent on further rigging the tax code for the rich at everyone else’s expense.”

Axios: Exclusive: Trump, GOP to cut top rate to 35 percent

Jonathan Swan
President Trump and Republican leaders plan to cut the top tax rate for the wealthiest Americans to 35 percent and dramatically reduce taxes on big and small businesses, according to details […]

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BREAKING: White House Legislative Director Marc Short admits people with preexisting conditions will face higher premiums under Graham-Cassidy-Heller

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after White House Legislative Director Mark Short admitted that Cassidy-Graham-Heller would force Americans with preexisting conditions to pay higher premiums, breaking with unsubstantiated denials coming from the bill’s sponsor’s. 

“The White House finally admitted what doctors, hospitals, patient advocates, and numerous other nonpartisan experts have been warning Senate Republicans about in the strongest terms: that Cassidy-Graham-Heller would take us back to the days when insurance companies could charge Americans with preexisting conditions like cancer much higher premiums.  This Trumpcare bill is a partisan disaster, and Americans who need medical coverage deserve better than a state-by-state crap shoot.”


CHRIS WALLACE: And in fact, it says states can raise premiums for coverage for preexisting conditions without any guidelines.  There’s no question it’s going to be higher in some states than it is under Obamacare.

MARC SHORT: There’s going to be some states higher, […]

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Editorial Roundup: Destroy North Korea Edition

This week editorial boards across the country again criticized Trump’s behavior and reckless foreign policy that was on full display during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Amidst yet another hurricane laying waste to Puerto Rico, another devastating earthquake in Mexico, and Senate Republicans reanimating Trumpcare to devastate Medicaid and strip coverage from 32 million Americans, Trump managed to march America closer to conflict with juvenile name calling, and editorial boards took him to task.
Here’s what editorial boards across the country had to say:
9/15

Tampa Bay Times: U.S. Needs Tax Reform, Not Tax Cuts For The Wealthy
President Donald Trump is in a big rush for Congress to approve big tax cuts, and he is using the damage left by Hurricane Irma to argue his case. One has nothing to do with the other, except for their negative impact on middle-class Floridians. The nation needs tax reform, […]

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WATCH: Four Months Ago Cassidy Objected to What He’s Doing Now On His Healthcare Bill 

In May,​ Sen. Bill Cassidy told Fox on-camera that ​the policies now contained in Cassidy-Graham-Heller  would be a disaster for Americans with preexisting conditions​.​  The largest healthcare ​and patient organizations in the United States agree​.

​This comes as ​GOP insiders report ​that ​neither Republican Senators nor the White House understand the basics of this Trumpcare bill that they are rushing to jam down the country’s throats before the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office will even have time to give an official analysis of how it ​would effect their constituents’ lives.​ As it turns out​,​ Cassidy objected to ​​doing that, as well. ​

WATCH:

“Sen. Bill Cassidy has already told the American people – on camera – why the policies in his own bill would have excruciating consequences for Americans suffering from preexisting conditions like cancer.  That is why the American Cancer Society and numerous other patient organizations have joined with American’s doctors and  Read more after the jump.

Bridge Project Releases Fact Sheets Showing Dire Graham-Cassidy-Heller Impacts in Six Key States

Bridge Project today released fact sheets showing how dire the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson plan would be for people living in six key states: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Senate Republicans are attempting to push through the dangerous so-called health care bill that has not even been scored by the CBO. The analyses that are available, however, show that the Graham-Cassidy-Heller plan is even worse for the states than previous Republican bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It would cause 32 million Americans to lose their health care coverage, deeply cut Medicaid and other health care funding for states, eliminate or weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and increase out-of-pocket costs for tens of millions of Americans. The plan would also be disastrous for older Americans.

“Republican Senators like Dean Heller […]

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SIREN: Alaska exception proves Graham-Cassidy would gut Medicaid

“Senate Republicans are blatantly attempting to buy Lisa Murkowski’s vote for a plan that would cause 32 million Americans to lose their health insurance and put the cost of covering preexisting conditions through the roof,” said American Bridge ​spokesperson Andrew Bates. “But in the process they’re admitting what they’ve tried to deny – Cassidy-Graham-Heller-Johnson would gut Medicaid and leave it unrecognizable to the nearly 69 million people who count on it.”

Politico: Alaska could get relief from Senate repeal bill’s Medicaid cuts
By JENNIFER HABERKORN
09/21/2017 01:26 PM EDT

The Senate’s Obamacare repeal bill may protect Alaska and up to four other sparsely populated states from major cuts to Medicaid through 2026, a potential boon to the home of pivotal GOP swing vote Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The plan from Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) allows a limited number of states to opt out of its new Medicaid financing system, which would give states set sums […]

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Cassidy and Johnson can’t even keep their lies straight anymore

American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after Senators Cassidy and Graham blatantly contradicted themselves in dishonest interviews promoting the Cassidy-Graham-Heller-Johnson Trumpcare bil​l:​

“Sens. Cassidy and Johnson have told so many lies about their Trumpcare bill that now they can’t even keep their story straight.  As they flail to deceive the American people, independent health advocacy groups ranging from the American Medical Association to patient and provider organizations have already put out the truth: this bill would take insurance from 32 million Americans, cripple protections for people with preexisting conditions, send premiums up 20% next year, and kill 2.6 million jobs. That’s not spin, those are facts – and there’s no denying it.”

Video and Transcript with Reality Checks​:​
​

CASSIDY

SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Under Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson, more people will have coverage.

​Reality Check:

American Medical Association, 9/19/2017: “Millions would lose their health insurance coverage while destabilizing […]

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