The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) says a vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – will move ahead as soon as fellow Senator John McCain is healthy.
The Arizona senator had surgery Friday to remove a blood clot from “above his left eye.”
Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, was speaking with host Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“Well, first of all Chuck we all wish John McCain a speedy recovery and we need him in more ways than one,” Cornyn said. “But yes, I believe as soon as we have a full contingent of Senators we’ll have that vote. It’s important we do so.”
Though Cornyn said he was optimistic, Todd asked whether it was a bad sign that the vote on the GOP health care bill had to be postponed, just because one Republican Senator was unavailable.
“Obviously this bill is a tough bill for, I would say, at least a dozen senators to vote for on your side of the aisle,” Todd said. “What is it say that, one missing Republican could actually upset the entire apple cart?”
“Well, health care is hard and we know that but we have no choice to try to come to the rescue of the millions of people who are being failed as a result of the problems with Obamacare,” Cornyn said.
However, a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News found that 50 percent of Americans preferred to keep the ACA. Only 24 percent wanted the GOP proposal instead.
When broken down along party lines,77 percent of Democrats wanted to stick with Obamacare. On the flip side, 59 percent of Republicans supported their party’s plan.
Cornyn said the poll results reflect the fact that Americans have mostly heard from critics about the Republican health care proposal.
The other senator from Texas is again pushing a bill to change the street address of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The Texas Tribune reports that Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been trying to change the address of the embassy to “1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza” since 2014.
Liu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, died in state custody this past Thursday from liver cancer.
A Chinese court had sentenced Liu to 11 years in prison for his work advocating for democracy and an end to censorship in China.
Last Wednesday, a day before Liu’s death, the Texas Republican renewed his push to change the address on the Senate Floor.
“And the end goal should be clear – it’s not merely to rename a street but rather to use the action to shine a light on the Liu’s and pressure the PRC to do the right thing,” Cruz said.
A similar from bill from Cruz passed the Senate in 2016 but didn’t make it out of the House.
Then-President Barack Obama indicated he would veto that bill.