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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated that he will bring an ObamaCare repeal bill to the floor early next week for a motion to proceed. For those not familiar with a motion to proceed, it's a procedural vote that allows the Senate to consider a piece of legislation on the floor.
[...] Outside conservative groups, fearing that Senate GOP leaders are watering down the House bill’s Medicaid savings and rollback of ACA regulations, have meanwhile begun speaking out more forcefully in recent days. “Everything we’re hearing right now is frustrating and concerning to us,” said Jason Pye, director of public policy at FreedomWorks, a grass-roots-oriented conservative group.
It’s no secret that my organization, FreedomWorks, had serious concerns with the American Health Care Act. The amendment negotiated by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to allow states to define their own community rating and essential health benefits was a step in the right direction, but further improvements must be made as the bill works its way through the Senate. As Meadows said during the House debate over the AHCA, “The American people are going to care about one thing, and that’s premiums going down.”
Two years after the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 387) was first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, it was revisited Monday, Febuary 6th, and passed unanimously. This is a huge victory for proponents of digital privacy, but the fight is not over quite yet. Now that is has been passed in the House, it will need to be passed by the Senate before Americans’ right to email privacy can finally be updated for the 21st century.
Today Jason Pye, FreedomWorks' director of public policy and legislative affairs, sent Senate offices the following letter supporting the REINS Act, S. 21, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). This bill requires that agencies’ major rules cannot go into effect until they pass the House and Senate and are signed by the president.
After the Finance Committee’s vote on Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) for director of the Office of Management and Budget, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon released the following statement:
The U.S. Capitol Building may be closed for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, but there will be plenty of action in the adjacent Senate office buildings. Confirmation hearings on eight of President-elect Trump's cabinet nominees are expected this week. This follows confirmation hearings on six nominees last week. Initially, more confirmation hearings were expected last week, but some delays were announced. The House is expected to convene on Friday.
Following reports that the Senate may not consider the removal of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen should the House of Representatives successfully impeach him, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:
Perhaps the cocktails preceding yesterday's welcome dinner at the American Constitution Society's annual convention are to blame, but when Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren addressed the dinner, they appeared to be suffering from memory problems. As they spoke about the Senate's handling of President Obama's judicial nominees and Donald Trump's remarks concerning a Mexican-American judge, their memory lapses were too numerous to discuss in a single post. But here are several examples:
In the White House’s Rose Garden on Wednesday, President Barack Obama named his nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. The nominee does not matter in this debate. Really, the process is the issue. The Senate's role is not what the White House and those friendly to this president are making it out to be.
FreedomWorks Foundation, American Legislative Exchange Council, Tea Party Patriots and Committee to Unleash Prosperity in partnership with a coalition of conservative organizations and prominent individuals, launched the Save Our Country Task Force.