In the News

WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders, facing a revolt among conservatives and moderates in their ranks, pulled legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act from consideration on the House floor Friday in a major defeat for President Trump on the first legislative showdown of his presidency.

"We're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future," the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, conceded.

AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to cast a highly anticipated vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The new bill has drawn criticism from both parties and has some Republicans concerned that it won't receive the 216 votes it needs to pass.

"I hope our Texas congressional delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives will listen carefully to their constituents," State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, said, "and think very carefully before they vote on this bill tomorrow in the U.S. Congress."

A key tool used by college students to apply for financial aid was pulled down by the Internal Revenue Service this month as a result of "criminal activity," said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, (D- Texas).

The link appears on the U.S. Education Department's Free Application for Federal Student Aid (Fafsa) and allows students to automatically download information from their or their parents tax returns.

Race, not partisan advantage, was the key to changes made in the maps of three Texas congressional districts, including two in San Antonio.

That was the conclusion of a federal judicial panel that invalidated the three Republican-drawn districts. In a 2-1 ruling, it said the 2011 changes diluted minority votes in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

However, the order doesn't explain how the invalidated maps should be corrected, though the plaintiffs have said in past hearings that the districts might have to be redrawn to how they were before 2011.

The Ways and Means Committee endorsed language rolling back Obamacare fees on health insurers and certain pharmaceutical manufacturers, moving a step closer to advancing the House GOP's repeal bill.

Democrats on Wednesday used the House Ways and Means Committee's markup of legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare to make another unsuccessful push for the panel to request President Trump's tax returns.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) offered an amendment for Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) requesting Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department so that the panel could review them.

House Republicans on Wednesday began debating a plan to repeal Obamacare amid Democratic accusations that the GOP is jamming through a bill to fulfill a campaign pledge that will rip health care away from millions of Americans.

Just minutes after two House committees started debate, lawmakers began bickering about everything from the merits of striking the Affordable Care Act to how much time members should get to make opening statements to the president's tax returns and the cost of the health bill.

Democrats on Wednesday broadly blasted a proposed Obamacare replacement bill after learning the federal government would lose about $400 million in lost tax revenue over the next decade due to a sweet break for health insurers.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., said that the tax break related to executive pay underscores the fact that the Republican replacement bill is "the beginning of a huge giveaway to the very, very wealthy," and the end of insurance coverage for millions of lower-income people.