First Draft on Politics: Senate Republicans Unveil Health Care Bill

The 142-page bill would create a new system of federal tax credits to help people buy health insurance. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, June 23, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, after a Republican meeting about the health care bill on Thursday.]( Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, after a Republican meeting about the health care bill on Thursday. Doug Mills/The New York Times Good Friday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - Senate Republican leaders released their bill to [repeal the Affordable Care Act]( even as enough senators to block it declared their opposition. - Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, strolled before the cameras with defeat at her back once more, projecting a well-worn swagger as she [insisted that her moment had not passed](. - After weeks of speculation over his suggestion that his talks with the F.B.I. director [might have been recorded]( President Trump said they were not. - The Trump administration is sending a civilian team into Syria to try to bring stability to areas that American-backed forces have [retaken from the Islamic State](. - Investigators say a former State Department security officer accused of spying for China had classified documents and apparently incriminating messages on a device [he brought back from Shanghai](. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [Trump’s Agenda]( We’ll keep you updated on the recent legislative action by the Trump White House. [• Sign up »]( Congressional Memo [McConnell’s Calculation May Be That He Still Wins by Losing]( By JENNIFER STEINHAUER [The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, on Thursday after leaving a closed-door meeting on the Senate's health care bill.]( The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, on Thursday after leaving a closed-door meeting on the Senate's health care bill. Doug Mills/The New York Times When it comes to managing Republicans’ best interests, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, rarely loses. So it is possible that Mr. McConnell views the potential failure of a hastily written health care bill as an eventual boon. His presentation on Thursday [of the Senate’s health care measure]( to Republican colleagues — after the White House and key lobbyists got a peek the night before — was met with something other than unbridled enthusiasm. According to lawmakers who were at the unveiling, members from the left and right ends of the party’s spectrum were deeply critical of the effort. As Democrats immediately took to the Senate floor to excoriate the bill and the secretive process in which it was put together, few Republicans, even those involved in crafting it, came to defend it. A handful of Republicans — more than Mr. McConnell can afford to lose — were quick to disparage the measure. “I have serious concerns about the bill’s impact on the Nevadans who depend on Medicaid,” Senator Dean Heller, his party’s most vulnerable incumbent in the 2018 elections, said of his constituents. [Read more »](  [How Senate Republicans Plan to Dismantle Obamacare]( By HAEYOUN PARK AND MARGOT SANGER-KATZ A comparison of the Senate health care bill with the Affordable Care Act. [Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, N.C., surrendered to the police in Washington in December.]( [Gunman in ‘Pizzagate’ Shooting Is Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison]( By MATTHEW HAAG AND MAYA SALAM The man, Edgar Maddison Welch, fired a gun inside the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in December after reading fake stories about a child abuse scheme led by Hillary Clinton. [Trudeau on Trump: ‘He Actually Does Listen’]( By IAN AUSTEN The Canadian prime minister spoke about the president, Twitter and Nafta at an event in Toronto organized by The New York Times and the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto. [President Trump at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday night.]( Fact Check [In One Rally, 12 Inaccurate Claims From Trump]( By LINDA QIU The president misled about foreign policy and health care, coal mining and Gary Cohn in a campaign rally in Iowa. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies.  From the Right • [Ed Rogers]( in [The Washington Post]( “If Trump is innocent, Mueller will say it. Trump and Co. should help him reach that conclusion, not make his job more difficult.” Mr. Rogers doesn’t believe that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Nor does he believe that President Trump obstructed justice when he fired James Comey. That’s why, despite his “immense respect” for administration surrogates like Newt Gingrich, he hopes the administration will stop disparaging the special counsel. He trusts that Mr. Mueller, an inveterate professional beyond partisan concerns, will conclude his investigation by exonerating the president. After all, he writes, “Mr. Mueller is not part of the resistance.” [Read more »]( _____ From the Left • [Lance Williams]( and [Matt Smith]( in [Reveal]( “When you take Gingrich’s argument to its logical conclusion, no prosecutor who has ever had a political opinion would be allowed to prosecute anybody who has ever had a conflicting political opinion.” Mr. Williams and Mr. Smith concede that the legal team Mr. Mueller has assembled includes many people who have donated to Democratic candidates and organizations. However, they write, this should hardly disqualify them from doing the investigative or prosecutorial work against a Republican administration. Political donations are not enough to prove a conflict of interest. [Read more »]( _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. 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