INTERVIEW – STEPHEN MOORE – Economist, Heritage Foundation

TOPIC: What’s next for Obamacare and tax reform?

–  Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) revealed that he spoke with President Donald Trump on Monday and told the president that he can take executive action to allow organizations to offer more affordable group health insurance plans. Rand Paul, one of the Senate’s leading conservatives, told reporters that Trump will consider taking executive action to address the many problems with the healthcare system after Sen. John McCain tanked an Obamacare repeal bill last week. The Kentucky senator’s proposed changes would allow groups such as AARP, which represents retirees, to form associations to allow individuals and small businesses to form larger groups to negotiate with health insurance companies for lower premiums and deductibles.
– Senate GOP pivots to tax reform fight after healthcare failure. Senators are digging in for a looming fall fight over tax reform, as Republicans look to move on from their setback on ObamaCare repeal.  Leaders on both sides of the aisle are setting up early goal posts for the upcoming battle, with GOP leadership wanting to get a bill to President Trump’s desk by the end of the year.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) confirmed on Tuesday that Republicans will use the fast-track reconciliation process to move a tax reform bill, which will allow them to clear legislation without Democratic support.
– Senate Health Committee to hold bipartisan meetings on healthcare. (The Hill) — The Senate Health Committee will begin holding bipartisan hearings the first week of September on how to stabilize and strengthen the individual insurance market, the panel’s top Democrat and Republican announced Tuesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — said the goal is for the panel to craft a bipartisan, short-term proposal by mid-September, as insurers must finalize how much their premiums will cost by the end of that month. “We need to put out the fire in these collapsing markets wherever these markets are,” Alexander said at the beginning of a HELP Committee hearing on nominations.
– Talks between the White House and the Senate’s top Republican and Democrat broke up Tuesday with no progress on raising the country’s debt ceiling, an impasse that threatens a financial crisis if left unresolved. The Senate and House have 12 joint working days before Sept. 29, when the Treasury Department says it would no longer be able to pay all of the government’s bills unless Congress acts. A default would likely set off a major disruption to the world financial system, with a stock market crash and surging interest rates that could send the economy into a recession. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has urged Congress for months to raise the debt limit, but the White House has lacked a unified message and run into resistance on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and Republicans are at odds on key tax and spending issues.