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DC Daily: House expected to vote on health care overhaul, wiretapping claims get second life

Posted at 10:36 AM, Mar 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-23 12:00:23-04

What's happening today in the political world:

House expected to vote on Trump's health care overhaul

-- Today, U.S. House leaders are expected to vote on the American Health Care Act, a bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act commonly referred to as "Obamacare." If passed, the bill will be sent to the U.S. Senate.

Thursday's vote is expected to be a close one, coming down to a handful of House leaders. Republican lawmakers reportedly worked late into Wednesday to try and secure the bill's passage, but were unable to do so, CNN reported.

President Trump tweeted out a call for constituents to urge lawmakers to repeal and replace the Obama-era health care law saying, "you were given many, many false stories. The fact is you were given many lies. Go with our plan. It's going to be terrific. You're going to be very, very happy." 

Vice President Mike Pence seconded the call to action saying, "Obamacare has failed - and Obamacare must go."

As of Wednesday night, a Republican leader count by CNN showed Thursday's vote could fall short of the necessary votes needed to send the bill to the Senate. Read more.


House Intel Chair won't reveal sources behind new wiretapping claims

-- House Intelligence chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, who said Wednesday that Pres. Trump's personal communications may have been collected under "incidental collection," told reporters he would not reveal where he received his information from.

When asked repeatedly about his sources, Nunes refused to discuss his source. Nunes did say he had not shown the Intelligence Committee the records of what he received.

Nunes' Democratic counterpart, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said the wiretapping investigation has cast a "cloud" over efforts to investigate allegations of Russian ties to Pres. Trump's 2016 campaign. Read more.


Trump and Pence express condolences following London attack

-- President Trump and Vice President Pence expressed their condolences to their British counterparts, following the deadly attack near a UK Parliament building Wednesday that left four people dead.

Four people were killed and another 20 were wounded in the attack outside a British government building. A police officer and the attacker were among the dead.

ISIS took credit for the attack Thursday morning, following the arrest of eight people in a series of raids around Britain.


Pres. Trump takes a moment to address Russia allegations

-- Pres. Trump quickly knocked back recent news regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into Russian ties with his 2016 campaign.

Following a report that Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked for a Russian billionaire to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin's interests, the U.S. president called the news "totally biased and fake."

Wednesday, The Associated Press released a report that Manafort earned millions consulting for billionaire Oleg Deripaska, proposing a plan to "greatly benefit the Putin government" in multiple countries.

Manafort called the allegation "100 percent not true." Read more.