The Note: Obamacare 'repeal and replace' will not repeal and probably not replace
The House will vote Thursday on the Republican-backed health care bill.
— -- NOTABLES
--HOUSE TO HOLD VOTE ON GOP HEALTH CARE BILL TODAY: The House of Representatives will vote today on the Republican-backed health care bill. According to the schedule sent out House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. this morning, the vote on health care will happen sometime between 1:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. "We're going to pass it!" McCarthy said. "Let's be optimistic about life." Republican leaders and the White House spent the day Wednesday hunting for votes and are believed to be within striking distance of passing the measure, write ABC's BENJAMIN SIEGEL and JOHN PARKINSON. http://abcn.ws/2pJz3VT
--ANALYSIS - ABC's RICK KLEIN: “Repeal and replace” will not actually repeal, and probably will never replace, even if a bill passes the House, which it very well might. But the costs are unknown, and not just the fiscal costs, with the Congressional Budget Office sidestepped, or the human costs, which White House press secretary Sean Spicer stated are “literally impossible” to determine. It’s been framed as politically dangerous for Republicans not to keep their promise on health care, as it was the last two times House Speaker Paul Ryan was on the verge of calling a vote on the bill. Yet it was political danger that kept House Republicans from voting then. With the American Medical Association and the AARP lobbying for no’s, plus Jimmy Kimmel’s breaking through with a searing personal story, nothing has changed about the basic politics, even as the bill itself has changed. (One thing that hasn’t changed in recent drafts, despite promises to the contrary: special treatment for members of Congress and their staffs.) Call it walking the plank, or “doo-doo stuck to their shoe” (to quote House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi), but this is a vote and a move than can’t be taken back. Seven years of GOP promises haven’t changed the fact that Republicans have never really wanted to do what they said they wanted to do. They’re now led by a president who has said plenty of other things, and is more than willing to change where he stands anyway. Republicans are placing trust in their teamwork, on a bill where the impact will be determined in individual states and with unpredictable consequences.
--TRUMP EXPECTED TO EASE RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS: President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday with the intention of easing restrictions imposed by the Johnson Amendment, the rule limiting political participation by tax-exempt religious groups, according to senior administration officials. The order's signing, coinciding with the National Day of Prayer, would fulfill a key campaign promise by Trump, who once told a crowd of religious leaders that he envisioned a future in which they would be able to openly support political candidates, note ABC's CECILIA VEGA and ADAM KELSEY. http://abcn.ws/2qtHtBq
--SUSAN RICE DECLINES INVITATION TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE JUDICIARY PANEL: President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser Susan Rice said she will not testify before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., because, her lawyer said, the request was not bipartisan in nature.In a letter to Graham and the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Rice’s lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler, former counsel to Obama, said Rice is ready to help congressional inquiries into Russian election interference as long as the investigations are bipartisan. ABC's ALI ROGIN and JUSTIN FISHEL have more: http://abcn.ws/2paxfC6
--KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY'S HEARING ON CAPITOL HILL: FBI Director James Comey endured tough questioning Wednesday on Capitol Hill over the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and his controversial decision – just days before the November election – to send a letter to Congress, which later became public, notifying lawmakers that the FBI was going to reopen the probe into Clinton’s emails. Comey testified in front of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for nearly four hours in what was an annual oversight hearing. ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI notes some key takeaways from Comey’s hearing: http://abcn.ws/2oZH5uD
SPEED READ with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY
SENATE CHANGES LIKELY FOR REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE BILL. While Senate Republicans say they are pleased with the progress the House of Representatives is making on its Obamacare replacement bill, there are still several major roadblocks ahead if the legislation makes it to the other side of the Capitol, reports ABC's ALI ROGIN. First, several Senate Republicans who opposed the first version of the House bill remain skeptical. Second, the Senate would likely have to change the bill significantly, perhaps in ways that might displease House Republicans when the two sides seek to reconcile the different versions. http://abcn.ws/2p9ZIIa
TRUMP COMMITS TO ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE DEAL: 'WE WILL DO IT.' In a joint statement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, President Trump promised a “final” peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, emphasizing his commitment to “get this done.” “And I want to support you in being the Palestinian leader who signs his name to the final and most important peace agreement that brings safety, stability, prosperity to both peoples and to the region,” Trump said. ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS and ALEXANDER MALLIN have more: http://abcn.ws/2pFW75V
HOUSE PASSES $1 TRILLION GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL. The House of Representatives passed a $1 trillion spending bill Wednesday afternoon, crossing off a major item on lawmakers' to-do list before they begin an 11-day recess. The bill -- which passed by a 309-118 margin, with four members abstaining -- is written to fund the government through September and includes a $15 billion increase in funding for the military. The spending bill also contains $1.5 billion for border security, but leaves out funding for the physical border wall that President Donald Trump wants to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border, explains ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI. http://abcn.ws/2pIbkVZ
COMPARING THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE KREMLIN'S SUMMARIES OF THE TRUMP-PUTIN PHONE CALL. The White House and the Kremlin released separate summaries of the Tuesday phone call between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, showing some slight differences in their respective readouts of the conversation.The U.S. readout framed the conversation as a call "regarding Syria" where the two leaders reached similar conclusions, notes ABC's MEGHAN KENEALLY. "President Trump and President Putin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence,” the White House release stated. http://abcn.ws/2pIOCNn
WHO’S TWEETING?
@mkraju: A number of House members say they haven't seen latest version of bill that will remake the health care system and will be voted on tomorrow
@MEPFuller: Worth restating just how *insane* it is that almost every Republican is on board with this health care bill without having seen a CBO score.
@realDonaldTrump: Susan Rice, the former National Security Advisor to President Obama, is refusing to testify before a Senate Subcommittee next week on.....
@realDonaldTrump: ...allegations of unmasking Trump transition officials. Not good!
@anniekarni: The most revealingly unrevealing quotes from Ivanka Trump’s new book http://politi.co/2pBsFQb
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