Feb 14, 2017

Senate Republicans may have trouble with their repeal-first camp, too

Caitlin Owens

Andrew A. Nelles/AP

House Republican conservatives aren't the only ones saying they won't vote for an Obamacare repeal bill that's less sweeping than the 2015 version. A growing number of Senate Republicans are taking a hard line, too — including Sen. Rand Paul, who's joining Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in that camp. "I agree completely. I think that should be the minimum that we do, to repeal what we did in 2015. No less," Paul said this afternoon.

Why it matters: Senate Republicans can't afford to lose more than two votes if they want to repeal Obamacare through a budget "reconciliation" bill, which can pass with only 51 votes. But they also need to keep more moderate Republicans on board, who may want to be sure a repeal bill doesn't get rid of Medicaid expansion or the law's taxes.

So if Cruz, Lee and Paul actually vote against a repeal bill they don't think is strong enough — that sinks the bill.

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Axios

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 11 p.m. ET: 721,817 — Total deaths: 33,968 — Total recoveries: 151,204.
  2. U.S.: Leads the world in cases. Total confirmed cases as of 11 p.m. ET: 142,328 — Total deaths: 2,489 — Total recoveries: 4,767.
  3. Federal government latest: President Trump says his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30.
  4. Public health updates: Fauci says 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from virus.
  5. State updates: Louisiana governor says state is on track to exceed ventilator capacity by end of this week — Cuomo says Trump's mandatory quarantine comments "panicked" some people into fleeing New York
  6. World updates: Italy on Sunday reports 756 new deaths, bringing its total 10,779. Spain reports almost 840 dead, another new daily record that bring its total to over 6,500.
  7. What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk
  8. Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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Keep ReadingArrowUpdated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy
Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler, Marisa Fernandez

U.S. coronavirus updates: Infections number tops 140,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now infected over 142,000 people in the U.S. — more than any other country in the world, per Johns Hopkins data.

The big picture: COVID-19 had killed over 2,400 people in the U.S. by Sunday night. That's far fewer than in Italy, where over 10,000 people have died — accounting for a third of the global death toll. The number of people who've recovered from the virus in the U.S. exceeded 2,600 Sunday evening.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 3 hours ago - Health
Axios

World coronavirus updates: Cases surge past 720,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

There are now more than 720,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins. The virus has now killed more than 33,000 people — with Italy alone reporting over 10,000 deaths.

The big picture: Governments around the world have stepped up public health and economic measures to stop the spread of the virus and soften the financial impact. In the U.S., now the site of the largest outbreak in the world, President Trump said Sunday that his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 5 hours ago - Health