Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, on Wednesday fielded a barrage of questions about his ethics, the plan to replace ObamaCare and President-elect Trump’s vow not to cut Medicare.
Price kept his cards close to his chest, parrying questions from Democrats by speaking in broad terms about wanting to provide access to healthcare coverage while providing few details.
Takeaway number one: Stock trading questions aren’t going away
Democrats grilled Price on his trades of healthcare stocks while in Congress, raising questions about conflicts of interest.
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Under questioning from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Price acknowledged that he had bought stock in a biotech company called Innate Immunotherapeutics after discussing the company with Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.).
Democrats have warned that Price could have violated the STOCK Act, which bans stock trading by lawmakers based on their inside congressional information.
Price argued that while Collins told him about the company, there was no inside information shared.
“I had no access to nonpublic information,” Price said.
“I studied the company for a period of time and felt that it had some significant merit and promise,” he added. Read the rest of the takeaways here. http://bit.ly/2jyuAm3
Trump scrambles GOP healthcare plans
President-elect Donald Trump is upending the GOP’s plans on ObamaCare.
Trump over the weekend said the ObamaCare replacement plan should cover everyone, a pledge that congressional Republicans have repeatedly declined to make.
The remark came just a few days after Trump said at a press conference that his administration would put forward its own replacement plan for ObamaCare, an announcement that seemed to catch lawmakers by surprise.
At the same press conference, Trump said Congress should repeal and replace ObamaCare simultaneously, shooting down talk that Republicans might delay the replacement plan to a later date.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, told reporters Tuesday that he did not know that Trump was going to announce his intention to put forward his own ObamaCare replacement last week. And if the new administration follows through on putting forward a plan, Cornyn would not commit that it would be the baseline for work on the Republican replacement.
“I don’t know,” Cornyn said. “I want to see it first.” Read more here. http://bit.ly/2jygd1b
Another GOP lawmaker faces testy constituents on ObamaCare
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on Tuesday had contentious exchanges with some constituents during a local meeting about the GOP plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
Dozens showed up to a meeting with Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, meant as a chance for “local people affected by ObamaCare” to “share their experiences with rising costs and loss of coverage and choice,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
Brady said during the session President Obama’s signature healthcare legislation has “hurt a lot.”
“The Obama experiment has failed,” he said, mentioning rising premiums and fewer choices.
But he was faced a crowd during the meeting that at times was testy, questioning Brady about what the replacement plans would be and talking about their own experiences with ObamaCare. Read more here. http://bit.ly/2joF1GE
What we’re reading
Why one expert says Tom Price’s stock deals ‘may very well have’ broken the law (Washington Post)
Tom Price just contradicted Trump team’s defense of his questionable stock trades (Huffington Post)
Jimmy Kimmel asks people if they prefer ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act (Huffington Post)
State by state
State official: Video shows reason to cut Planned Parenthood (Austin American Statesman)
Fight to fund Planned Parenthood goes to California capitol (KCRA)