Your Daily Countable: Rise of the Un-Dead! Health Care Repeal & Sean Spicer
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Good Monday morning from all of team Countable, and from me, Manging Editor Andrea Seabrook. Here's what your government is doing today:
Rise of the Un-Dead!
Two big things are suddenly, maybe not irrelevant anymore (how's that for an endorsement?):
Undead #1: The Republican Obamacare repeal
Now in the form of a the "Graham-Cassidy Plan", named for two of its cosponsors Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). (Make your voice heard! See What do YOU Want in American Health Care? ) Top staff in the White House and Senate GOP have their lassos in full ariel spin, whipping votes like mad to get to that magical number — 51 — before Republicans lose that equally magical window — reconciliation — on October 1st. The plan essentially turns health care funding into a block grant program, meaning the states would get money to implement their own programs. Supporters say it gives states the choice to keep health exchanges or pursue other systems. Opponents warn it will rip the fabric of Obamacare, rending it useless everywhere. Want the weeds? Here's an exaustive section-by-section summary of the bill.
Undead #2: Sean Spicer
The talk of the town — and twitter's latest freakout — is Spicer's surprise cameo at last night's Emmy's show on CBS. President Trump's famously former Press Secretary amiably poked fun at himself after host Stephen Colbert asked him to help estimate the size of the crowd. 'Course, Spicers re-versioning tour has people as polarized as a neodynium magnet (see aforementioned twitter freakout). You gotta see it:
What's Your Government Doing Today?
The White House: Trump @ UN in NYC
- Participates in meeting on "Reforming the United Nations: Management, Security, and Development"
- Meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
- Meets with France's President Emmanuel Macron
- Attends working dinner with Latin American leaders
- The President will stay the night in Trump Tower
The House of Representatives:
- Members of Congress are in their home districts. ('Cause, you know, it's hard working two full weeks after having all of August off.)
- Return to Washington next week
The Senate:
- H.R. 2810: National Defense Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2018
- Behind the scenes, GOP leaders madly whipping votes for last-ditch effort on Obamacare repeal
The Courts:
The US Federal Court for the District of Massachusetts will entertain a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and the Electronic Freedom Foundation asking for it to bar immigration officials from searching the personal cell phones people travel with. Countable's own Josh Herman writes the groups claim the searches violate people's first and fourth amendment rights:
"In the suit, the plaintiffs argue that their phones and laptops "contain massive amounts of personal information, including messages to loved ones, private photographs of family members, opinions and expressive material, and sensitive medical, legal, and financial information.""
For more, here's a sneak-peek at Josh's great story, Should Border Patrol Be Allowed To Search Your Phone?
All this, and so much more! At your local Countable site and app. Stay Tuned! And see you tomorrow.
-- Andrea Seabrook, Managing Editor
Talk to Andrea directly, @RadioBabe. Hit the Take Action button to tell your Reps what you think.
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