Is the GOP trying to repeal and replace itself? - By Eugene Robinson

This is a week to keep focused on the most urgent question in domestic policy and politics: Will Republicans snatch health insurance from millions of Americans and slash the vital Medicaid program by $770 billion , all to enable massive tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful?

Plenty of other news is vying for attention. President Trump spent Monday morning venting on Twitter about how President Barack Obama did “NOTHING about Russia” and its election meddling — despite Trump’s frequent claims that the whole Russia controversy is “fake news” and a Democratic Party “hoax.” The Supreme Court has agreed to rule on Trump’s travel ban, which lower courts have deemed unconstitutional; and to decide whether business owners who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage can refuse to provide goods or services for gay couples’ weddings.

There’s much to say about all of those topics, and there will be occasions to say it. But meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is trying to ram through legislation that would return us to the days when hard-working families had to choose between seeing a doctor and paying the rent — legislation that will surely cost lives.

The House has already passed the American Health Care Act, which Trump described as “mean” and lacking “heart.” The Senate bill is no more compassionate. If Trump really meant what he said, he’d insist that Congress abandon its effort to repeal and replace Obamacare and instead work across party lines to fix it. Or perhaps he might convene a panel of experts to design a truly universal system of health coverage from the ground up. I expect these things to happen shortly after pigs begin to fly.

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