First Draft on Politics: Jeff Sessions Speaks Out After An Unbraiding From Trump

The attorney general vowed to remain in his role “as long as that is appropriate” View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, July 21, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a news conference at the Justice Department on Thursday.]( Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a news conference at the Justice Department on Thursday. Tom Brenner/The New York Times Good Friday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed on Thursday to [stay in his job]( a day after President Trump upbraided him for recusing himself from the Russia investigation. - The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the latest version of a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act would still [leave millions uninsured](. - The president is [too unpopular nationally]( and too weak in many states to scare lawmakers into supporting the health bill. - The value of the dollar has fallen steadily this year, helping American companies that sell to foreigners and [hurting American consumers of foreign goods]( and services. - Once again, in the middle of contentious health care deliberations, a larger-than-life figure in the Senate has learned he has brain cancer. The[circumstances are eerily similar]( between Edward Kennedy and John McCain. — 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 [In a Cruel Summer for the G.O.P., ‘Things Are Starting to Feel Incoherent’]( By JENNIFER STEINHAUER [Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. “There's just not a lot of progress happening,” he said.]( Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. “There's just not a lot of progress happening,” he said. Eric Thayer for The New York Times WASHINGTON — For Republicans — who control every corner of this city — this should be a time of elation, running up the score on accomplishments. But their seven-year promise to repeal President Barack Obama’s [health care law]( has become an embarrassing, popcorn-worthy drama that evolves hourly around the tweeted whims of President Trump, who provides congressional Republicans neither a policy blueprint to follow nor a bully pulpit on which to lean. The effort to rewrite the tax code — a durable Republican yearning — has been undermined by a budget fight in the House, an indecisive White House and the stalled health care effort, on which the tax changes were meant to rely. Even something that once easily unified Republicans — the desire to place sanctions on Russia — has unraveled in the House, creating the appearance that lawmakers are protecting the White House from a bill it does not want. [Read more »](  [The First Global robotics competition in Washington on Monday.]( [Burundi Robotics Team Vanishes After U.S. Competition]( By EMILY COCHRANE The police say foul play is not suspected in the disappearance of six students from the violence-plagued country. Two were reported seen in Canada. [Terrance Maguire, a contract instructor at the National Computer Forensics Institute, taught the Basic Computer Evidence Recovery Techniques class in Hoover, Ala., in May.]( [The Secret Service Is Calling for Backup on Its Other Job]( By NICHOLAS FANDOS Though the Secret Service is known for keeping government executives safe, it has a mandate to fight financial and cyber crimes. It could use help. [President Trump and President Emmanuel Macron of France greeted each other in Paris this month.]( Fact Check [Trump Made Several Misleading Claims in Times Interview]( By LINDA QIU President Trump distorted health insurance, his own legislative accomplishments, the biography of his deputy attorney general and French history. [Rex W. Tillerson, the secretary of state, at the White House in June. When he was Exxon Mobil’s chief executive, the company’s subsidiaries did business with a person whose assets were blocked, in violation of United States sanctions, the Treasury Department has said.]( [Exxon Mobil Fined for Violating Sanctions on Russia Under Tillerson]( By ALAN RAPPEPORT While Rex W. Tillerson, now the U.S. secretary of state, led the energy giant, “Exxon Mobil demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements,” the Treasury Department said. 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 • [Denise C. McAllister]( in [The Federalist]( “Our education about sex of any sort is woefully lacking if it focuses only on the physical. Children’s minds and souls need to be educated as well.” Ms. McAllister responds to the recent controversy about a [sexual advice column]( in Teen Vogue with a larger look at the state of a growing sexualized culture and the demands placed on sexual education in the classroom. [Read more »]( _____ From the Left • [Stephen Stromberg]( in [The Washington Post]( “Trump has shown little capacity to learn and change, but this should be a lesson for his still-young administration. People care about more than just winning. They also care about how they win and what they gain in winning.” In the wake of the health care bill’s collapse, Mr. Stromberg imagines that a bipartisan coalition could rally behind a package that includes “reinsurance programs to drive down premiums, fully funds Obamacare subsidies, repeals the mandate on employers to provide health care insurance and offers states more flexibility.” [Read more »]( _____ [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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