In November 2016, Tom Price, my congressman, was nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Trump administration. I was still working hard in my natural gas vehicle conversion business, but I felt that an opportunity to have my voice heard was something I just couldn’t pass up.

Did you know it costs nearly $150,000 to operate Air Force One?

Per HOUR!!!

Kudos to the group Judicial Watch for obtaining records from the Department of the Air Force in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The information details how much taxpayers are on the hook for President Trump’s flights to Mar-a-Lago for two weekends. The total cost is $1,281,420.00.

Dr. Ron Paul, who served 12 terms in the US Congress and became famous when he ran on a libertarian platform for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, has been on a rampage this Spring, excoriating both President Trump and the Republican-held Congress on one issue after another.

Runoffs get touted as a solution for vote splitting between similar candidates and overall better elections. Certainly, just about anything is better than the choose-one plurality voting that the US uses so extensively. But are runoffs really the great solution we make them out to be? (We already know that—like any voting method—runoffs can’t guarantee an absolute majority.)

Bernie Sanders supporters continue their fight against the Democratic National Committee, California lawmakers aren't addressing the real problem with presidential primaries, and an independent candidate emerges in Maine's gubernatorial race. All that and more this week in nonpartisan news.

https://twitter.com/YossiGestetner/status/859569768449421312

Fake news -- it’s a term we often hear about, but don’t often get the opportunity to see examples of just how slanted, biased, and fake the news has become.

Now comes the hard part. The house passing health care repeal and replace legislation is a significant short-term win for President Trump, but it won’t mean anything lest he can wrangle the Senate’s support. And that won’t be easy.

House Republicans are celebrating a major victory over the Affordable Care Act (colloquially known as Obamacare). The House voted 217-213 on a repeal and replace bill Thursday. However, not every Republican is smiling.

https://twitter.com/WSJPolitics/status/860199801446649856

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was one of 20 Republicans to vote against the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Shortly after the vote, Massie explained his decision on Facebook:

Thursday the House will again attempt to pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Americans have been anxiously waiting in anticipation especially since the Freedom Caucus expressed support for the GOP’s new plan. The bill does indeed rescind some Obamacare taxes and regulations while putting other measures in place, but is it really what the country needs?

Last week, Congress avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded for another week.

Then over the weekend, US lawmakers agreed to a deal that will extend funding through September while Congress and the White House continue to negotiate longer-term fiscal policy priorities.

The US House passed the budget deal Wednesday.