TRUMP AGENDA: What’s next after health care?
Leigh Ann Caldwell looks at what's next for the GOP after the health care debacle.
And from the New York Times: "As they come to terms with their humiliating failure to undo the Affordable Care Act, Republicans eyeing next year’s congressional campaign are grappling with a new dilemma: Do they risk depressing their conservative base by abandoning the repeal effort or anger a broader set of voters by reviving a deeply unpopular bill even closer to the midterm elections?"
Is Obamacare really dying? Benjy Sarlin has a deep dive.
From NBC's Ali Vitali and Corky Siemaszko: "[T]wo months into Trump's presidency, it's becoming clear that blood and family have trumped ambition on Pennsylvania Avenue with First Daughter Ivanka Trump emerging as a powerbroker in her own right, along with her husband Jared Kushner."
The New York Times: "Top House Democrats on Monday called on the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to recuse himself from the panel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, thrusting the entire inquiry into jeopardy amid what they described as mounting evidence he was too close to President Trump to be impartial."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is targeting"sanctuary cities" as some mayors vow to fight back.
"President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday to roll back most of President Barack Obama’s climate change legacy, celebrating the move as a way to increase the nation’s “energy independence” and to restore thousands of lost coal mining jobs," writes the New York Times. "But energy economists say the expected order falls short of both of those goals — in part because the United States already largely relies on domestic sources for the coal and natural gas that fires most of the nation’s power plants."
The Washington Post: "The order sends an unmistakable signal that just as President Barack Obama sought to weave climate considerations into every aspect of the federal government, Trump is hoping to rip that approach out by its roots."
And the Wall Street Journal notes: "While the action may give a reprieve to some coal-fired plants facing extinction, large utilities say they will continue long-term investments to generate more power from gas, wind and solar, which are being driven by economic as well as regulatory forces. The White House official said Monday that the order is part of the president’s promise to restore the coal sector, but the official acknowledged that merely repealing the regulations wouldn’t bring back jobs."
POLITICO reports that some conservatives aren't happy with EPA head Scott Pruitt.
Trump also signed bills yesterday that roll back some Obama-era education requirements.
Democrats have delayed a vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
And the Washington Post notes that Gorsuch may fall short of the 60 votes he needs for confirmation, likely triggering an upending of Senate rules.
On the horizon, via POLITICO:"Congressional Republicans might deliver some more bad news for President Donald Trump, fresh off their embarrassing failure to scrap Obamacare: No new money is coming to build his wall. Trump hoped to jump-start construction of a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border with money in a must-pass government funding bill. But Democratic leaders are vowing to block any legislation that includes a single penny for the wall."