"Skinny" Repeal Misses Mark as John McCain Leads 3 Republicans Against Health Care Reform

The drama on the floor of the U.S. Senate to replace and repeal Obamacare stretched into the morning hours of Friday.

The discussion was related to the "Skinny" repeal. If it had passed, here's what it would have done:

Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) is a process where “state officials automatically register eligible citizens using reliable information from other government lists. All would be given the chance to “opt out” or decline registration.”

This policy proposal seeks to resolve the issue of having a barrier at the polls.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - A Senate committee approved an amendment to a budget bill Thursday that would block the DOJ from using funding or resources to target state medical marijuana programs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) approved the amendment by voice vote. It renews protections already in place by Congress that all but legalize medical marijuana in states that allow it within their own jurisdictions.

Rising distrust in our political system is due in large part to a lack of transparency in several aspects of government.

In Colorado, several organizations have taken up the cause of increasing transparency. Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonpartisan nonprofit, has been working for over 10 years in keeping the government accountable to the people it represents through government ethics work and attempting to decrease the influence of money in politics.

President Trump announced Wednesday, via Twitter, that transgender troops would be banned from military service in any capacity.

Is it uncivilized for a society with the power to save someone to let them die? Australia, Germany, Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are only a few of the world leaders where a person is eligible for basic care regardless of their financial situation.

In the United States, however, we all-too-often see the consequences of citizens that can’t afford to pay for a doctor. Say what you will about the importance of the free market, say what you will about how the United States is different from other countries — denial of care is turning a blind eye.

Senate Republicans have cast two separate votes since Tuesday that have removed the option of "repeal-only" and a replacement plan. Now it appears their only viable option is what is known as the "skinny repeal." This would remove some key provisions from the Affordable Care Act and leave the rest intact.

The skinny repeal would essentially remove the mandate that requires individuals and employers to get health insurance. The plan would also get rid of the medical device tax and eliminate a public health fund provision.

There is an important update in the most recent effort in California to secede from theUnited States.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has cleared the campaign behind the secession initiative to start collecting the 585,000-plus signatures required to make it onto the 2018 ballot. Supporters of the plan have 180 days to collect the signatures.

An earlier signature drive for a similar initiative failed in April.

The FEC wants a federal judge to throw out a second complaint against the Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission filed a motion to dismiss Level the Playing Field's (LPF) supplemental complaint on Tuesday, July 25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmSBbh5QwEQ

US Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif) blasted President Trump's announcement that transgender individuals will be banned from military service. He filed an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill Wednesday to block it.