April 26, 2017 01:54 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (April 26)

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Get ready for the rain. Or perhaps snow. Or maybe just sun. It’s time to Get More Smarter! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Congressional Republicans, at the urging of President Trump, are attempting to revive efforts to repeal-and-maybe-replace Obamacare…or at least hoping to pretend that they are sorta trying to repeal the health care law. From the Washington Post:

An influential group of House conservatives threw its support behind a new Republican plan to revise the Affordable Care Act, shifting the political pressure to GOP moderates to determine the effort’s fate.

The House Freedom Caucus, which thwarted Republicans’ first attempt to overhaul the health-care system under President Trump, announced its support for an amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) allowing states to opt out of certain rules under Obamacare.

“The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original [Republican plan],” the Freedom Caucus said Wednesday in an unattributed statement.

“While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs,” the statement said.

The decision came as three conservative advocacy groups — the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and Heritage Action for America — declared their support for the plan, even as they also admitted it does not fully repeal Obamacare. [Pols emphasis]

We’ve reached the point in the healthcare debate where Republicans are signing onto a deal to “repeal Obamacare” that doesn’t actually repeal Obamacare — though they still don’t appear to have enough GOP support to approve legislation.

► Meanwhile, as Sarah Kliff reports for Vox, Congressional Republicans are considering protecting Obamacare access for themselves even if they somehow repeal part of the law:

House Republicans appear to have included a provision that exempts members of Congress and their staff from their latest health care plan.

The new Republican amendment, introduced Tuesday night, would allow states to waive out of Obamacare’s ban on preexisting conditions. This means that insurers could once again, under certain circumstances, charge sick people higher premiums than healthy people.

Republican legislators liked this policy well enough to offer it in a new amendment. They do not, however, seem to like it enough to have it apply to themselves and their staff. A spokesperson for Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), who authored this amendment, confirmed this was the case: Members of Congress and their staff would get the guarantee of keeping these Obamacare regulations. Health law expert Tim Jost flagged this particular issue to me.

► President Trump is rolling out his tax cuts for billionaires plan tax reform proposal with a one-page document that doesn’t bother to include any specific policy information. Details, shmetails.

► State legislative efforts to find funding for transportation and infrastructure upgrades have been officially dashed thanks to three Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee. Elsewhere, legislators are entering the final few weeks of the 2017 session with a number of high-profile items on their to-do lists.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► President Trump is using heavy rhetoric — and the Executive Pen — to bash National Monuments. The rhetoric, you won’t be surprised to learn, is short on facts.

Conservationists and other outdoor enthusiasts are bracing for the assault on National Monuments.

► President Trump is also contemplating an Executive Order that would withdraw the United States from NAFTA.

► Your property taxes are going up, as the Denver Post reports:

That’s the news from seven metro-area county assessors, who on Tuesday held a news conference to announce spikes in median home property valuations, ranging from about 17 percent for single-family homes in Douglas County to 40 percent for all homes in Adams County.

In those counties — as well as in Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Elbert and Jefferson — property tax increases will vary greatly, depending on factors such as neighborhood popularity, amount of new construction and affordability.

That last group will be among those hit the hardest.

“Neighborhoods that had among the lower property values in 2014 are seeing the largest percentage increases in Denver, though each neighborhood has seen growth,” Denver County Assessor Keith Erffmeyer said at the news conference.

 

► Friends and family helped celebrate Jeanette Vizguerra, the immigrant woman who has been living in “sanctuary” in a Denver church for several months, on her inclusion in TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people on earth.

► Mitt Romney’s nephew wants to be the next Governor of Colorado.

► PTSD may soon be added as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana recipients.

► Please, please, please stop invoking historical genocide as some sort of pro-gun argument.

► President Trump will hit his 100-day mark on Saturday, and the reviews are not good.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Ward Churchill is returning to the campus of the University of Colorado-Boulder.

► Wyoming Republican Sen. Mike Enzi knows a guy who goes to bars wearing a tutu.

ICYMI

► Another tip-o-the-cap to “Keyser’s Law.”

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