Associated Press
House Democrats’ new campaign chief poured cold water on Medicare for All, a proposal backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, pictured here in January.
The Hill writes House Democrats’ new campaign chief poured cold water on the progressive Medicare for All plan, saying it’s one idea and warning that its estimated $33 trillion price tag was “a little scary.”
Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told the publication, “What do we have — 130 million-something Americans who get their health insurance through their work? The transition from what we have now to Medicare for All, it’s just hard to conceive how that would work.” Various projections have concluded that the bill would cost the government $32 trillion to $33 trillion over 10 years. Proponents including Sen. Bernie Sanders and other 2020 White House hopefuls maintain that the bill would reduce overall health-care spending and save consumers significant out-of-pocket costs, the Hill writes.
Opinion: Medicare for All isn’t ‘radical,’ it’s popular.
Vote rebuking Omar postponed: A vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism in response to controversial comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar won’t take place Wednesday, Politico reports, amid intensifying pressure from the left both inside and outside the House Democratic Caucus.
Progressive groups declared their support for Omar, while both the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus — two of the most important factions among House Democrats — wanted more time to review the situation, lawmakers and aides said. Politico says the draft resolution doesn’t mention Minnesota Democrat Omar by name but is a direct response to her most recent comments and comes after a string of Israel-related remarks that some of her colleagues have claimed are anti-Semitic.
Now read: Here’s how the pro-Israel lobby — criticized by Ilhan Omar — stacks up against other Washington influencers
Ex-Trump aide won’t cooperate: A former campaign aide for President Donald Trump, one of 81 people to receive a request for documents this week from the House Judiciary Committee, has informed the committee that he has no records responsive to their inquiries and he does not plan to testify in front of the panel, reports the Washington Post.
The letter from an attorney for Michael Caputo, who worked for Trump during part of the 2016 campaign, represents the first skirmish in what is likely to be broad resistance from Trump aides and associates to new inquiries issued this week by the Judiciary Committee, the Post says. Caputo told the Post that he has already begun talking with four other Trump associates who received requests from the committee this week to begin a joint strategy of resisting requests for testimony.
Now see: House Democrats want information from these 81 people and organizations as they probe Trump.
Demand for Trump tax returns expected: Politico reports House Democrats plan to formally demand Trump’s tax returns in about two weeks. They intend to seek his personal tax returns covering a decade, but will not at this time request his business filings, said Rep. Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat and a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
A Treasury Department spokesperson said that Secretary Steven Mnuchin will review the legality of any request for Trump’s returns with Treasury attorneys, Politico said.
Cohen’s fourth day of testimony: Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is returning to Capitol Hill for a fourth day of testimony on Wednesday. Cohen was interviewed behind closed doors by both the Senate and House intelligence committees last week and is due for another private, daylong meeting with the House intelligence panel on Wednesday.
Among the issues discussed in Cohen’s closed-door interviews with both the House and the Senate was the issue of pardons, the Associated Press writes, citing people familiar with those interviews. The issue is expected to come up again during Cohen’s return visit.
