Thanks

From the link "Mr McConnell said he would try to pass a repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay implementation that would provide a "stable transition period" to a new legislation.
Correspondents, however, say that this plan has little chance to pass as, under the interim period, millions would be left without healthcare."

Matter of interest, is this repeal something that could be passed with only 52 votes (which anyway I doubt they have) or would it need the full Senate 60? Anybody know?

Edit - And from the Chief
"Dems will join in" Signs of desperation

"The CNN count showed a whopping 41 of the 52 GOP senators unwilling to commit to either the motion to proceed on the bill, a key procedural vote to begin debate, or the bill itself."

Source

Yet another U turn?

"The United States said Monday that Iran is continuing to comply with the terms of the nuclear deal that curbed Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief."

Source

This is the Trump who tweeted " Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how "kind" President Obama was to them. Not me!"

Trump is rapidly turning into a lame duck President who cannot drive legislation through Congress. Surprise to me, I thought this would be his strong point.

Why? Most of his policies are personal campaign ones, not the Republican Party's. If they were he'd be a lot further along with things by now.

After watching Trump in action for 6 months I decided I prefer the prospect of keeping Trump as a lame duck President versus the alternative of having Pence as President

It's actually been interesting watching the evolution of the Republican position on the Russian situation

Nov 16: There was no Russian involvement it's just Dems being sore losers. Sad!

Mar 17: OK maybe Russia did something but our campaign wasn't involved.

Jun 17: OK maybe the campaign met some Russians but who wouldn't talk to them for dirt on an opponent?

Coming soon: OK we'll talk a plea bargain but it has to be a white collar prison.

Watching the hysterics over the 'nothing burger' has been pretty good too.

"Patience, young grasshopper" Quote; "Kung Fu" David Carradine.

Better things will come!

Granddad shuffled out of the bedroom again and got onto Twitter

He does not seem to understand the GOP Senators were anyway using a voting approach that only needed 50 votes for Healthcare (plus Pence to break the dead lock).
Also he did not understand they do not have 50 votes (GOP Senators) behind the health Bill

I thought he'd be impeached within 6 months?

I hope not; Trump is proving to be less than competent whereas Pence will be a real pain!

Yeah, but he'd be impeached quicker meaning the Speaker of the House would become President iirc.

Meanwhile - die damn you Obamacare, just die!

"President Trump backed that plan on Monday night but changed his tune on Tuesday morning by proposing to simply let Obamacare - which has been marred by rising premiums and dwindling insurance provision - die on its own.

"As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!" he tweeted.

Without a replacement bill, analysts have estimated that millions of people would lose health insurance."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40646625

Again, the fault of the government for not reining in the insurance companies in the first place. From a previous article I linked:

"Matthew Caudill keeps himself healthy and works hard. He believes the President Obama's Affordable Care Act has been a real mess for him and his family. He used to pay $43 (£33) a month for coverage for himself and his two children - he now pays $400 a month and he says his deductibles are so high he may never get to use the benefits."

No way is anyone paying the right price for insurance cover if it's only $43 a month.

Unfortunately, Americans are too "independent" to go for a state system like the UK and or mandatory basic cover like Switzerland so will continue to suffer from one bad plan to the next.

Not surprising on Trumpcare. And Trump probably won't bother to release visitor records. He's shown before that he's willing to thumb his nose at the court system, with virtually no consequences.

It depends on the bill and whether the Senate parliamentarian thinks it qualifies as part of budget reconciliation. Source for the partial quote below (hyperlink to Wikipedia mine):

If the Rs don't like her answer they can just fire her and find someone else that will rubber-stamp what they want.

First, he could be impeached by the House but the trial and removal from office happens in the Senate. Bill Clinton was impeached but not removed from office.

In terms of who takes over when the president is removed from office (death, resignation, or removal from office after impeachment) it is the VP. So it would be Pence, not Ryan, that would assume the office.
Source: 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

In order for the other side to keep its promise you need to offer something, it needs to see an advantage in keeping the deal. I don't know if it was more than necessary but obviously it was enough to make Iran keep its promise.

Who remembers fearmongering "alternative truth" Bibi's bomb scetch where he predicted a nuclear attack on Israel within a year if the deal went thru?

It's two years since by now with zero headlines other than the smoke Trump tries to blow. Nothing worth reporting on means excellent news in cases such as this. That to me makes it a good deal.

The bolded above exactly. Plus, if millions of people - who are the Senate's and House's constituencies - lose health insurance, there is no way they are voting the same representatives again. These guys/gals are not risking their seat in Congress for Trump's incompetence/antics.

"let ObamaCare fail" Excuse me President Trump but as president, you don't get to throw up your arms and say "let it fail."

You've got to be the one always willing to find a solution -- even a deeply imperfect one -- to protect the people you serve?

You're the president of all the people, not just the people who agree with you or voted for you.

Senate Republicans' Plan B to gut Obamacare is poised for failure, as three GOP senators said Tuesday they will vote against a procedural motion to advance repeal of the health law without a replacement — dooming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest effort.

The opposition from GOP Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins came a day after Senate Republicans’ bill to replace Obamacare collapsed, and further imperilled President Donald Trump's vow to dismantle the health law.

Source

Oh well, healthcare is off the agenda for a long time now.

Meanwhile
Congress are supposed to vote on the 2018 budget before the August recess. So far all they got from the White House was two sheets of paper with some ideas!
Obama's last Budget "Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2017" ran to 182 pages link !!
Somehow Trump is not serious!! Anyway the GOP Conservative group say they will vote against any Budget proposal.

Other major Presidential objectives like "tax reform" and "rebuilding the US infrastructure" seem to be barely past the initial idea stage.

Trump's wall does not yet have even a peso of budget

Plus the US Govt. will run out of money in a couple of months and that situation has to be fixed quickly!

Surely, SURELY, people have to wake up to this fact soon?!

The tweet
The truth
Source

What they discussed is not revealed

Probably quite the contrary, it seems you didn't pay attention:
In early May after the supplemental financing (whatever it's called) for the current fiscal year passed, Trump called for a "good" government shutdown in September. This date coincides with the necessary raising of the federal debt ceiling (congress' job I think). No budget and/or no debt ceiling raise and there will be a shutdown.

By doing nothing Trump gets exactly that. He doesn't need any kind of majority, no dealmaking, no concessions or (heaven forbid!!!) compromises. All he needs to do is "nothing". Along with everything else it will also defund AHCA, his and GOP's pet peeve and (perhaps, main) target.

So that's what he may well keep doing: Nothing, or something amounting to that.

This may be delayed by a few months (I think last time in 2013 the government managed to get an additional 4-5 months) so the hot phase will probably be early 2018, if this comes to pass. Exactly the contrary, if(!) we're headed for a shutdown that is. Along with everything else AHCA will be defunded by a shutdown like everything else that's federally funded.

Trump: "either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!"

I am not convinced electing more Republican Senators will fix anything; there is a big gap between the conservatives and the moderates that needs fixing!

It is hard to see how a Govt. shutdown could benefit Trump or help to achieve his goals.
Possibly it could mean that any budget bill to solve the problem would only require 51 votes instead of the usual 60.

But GOP have clearly demonstrated they cannot work together and certainly you will never get 51 Republican Senators to vote down funding for AHCA. They already passed up on this opportunity this week!

If Trump wants to shut down Govt. he simply has to refuse to sign any budget Bill; of course, he won't do that!