Where is the Obamacare Replacement Bill? Today's news for March 3rd

The Hill:

Rand Paul blasts GOP for keeping ObamaCare bill in 'secure location'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday blasted House Republicans for keeping their ObamaCare repeal and replace legislation under wraps.

I have been told that the House Obamacare bill is under lock & key, in a secure location, & not available for me or the public to view.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 2, 2017

@RandPaul This is unacceptable. This is the biggest issue before Congress and the American people right now.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 2, 2017

@RandPaul What is the House leadership trying to hide? My guess is, they are trying to hide their "Obamacare Lite" approach.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 2, 2017

@RandPaul Renaming and keeping parts of Obamacare, new entitlements and extending medicaid expansion are not the #FullRepeal we promised

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 2, 2017

Paul is 100% correct. Most Republicans (if not all) were elected to the House and Senate on promises to repeal Obamacare. Now that they are being held responsible for their promises, they are getting weak in the knees, and trying to pass an "Obamacare Light" bill.

Unfortunately, they are taking their legislative lessons from Nancy Pelosi, who infamously said: "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy." If the Republicans try to pull a Pelosi, expect the Democrats to pick up Congressional seats in the 2018 midterm elections.

In other news...

Fox News:

In possible response to Trump, EU parliament calls to end visa-free travel for US citizens

In what has been called a “visa war,” the European Union’s parliament on Thursday called on the bloc to force American tourists visiting Europe to first obtain visas because the U.S. excludes five EU countries from its no-visa policy.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the request is unlikely to change policy, but reflects “hostility among some European politicians to the Trump administration.”

The report said Parliament’s vote came six weeks into Trump’s presidency and after the legislature publically slammed Trump’s executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

U.S. citizens can travel to all EU countries without visas but the U.S. hasn’t granted visa-free travel to citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania.

Do you feel that cold front moving in from Europe? That is the early frost of a trade war forming. If President Trump isn't careful, his protectionist ideals could turn into a fully formed trade war, instead of just a minor inconvenience to American tourists.

Finally, in news of "I told you so":

Tribune Washington Bureau:

Trump ignored first rule of crisis management — come clean — and he’s paying the price

Donald Trump has allowed his young presidency to become mired in a seemingly intractable Russia scandal by singling out journalists for attack instead of squarely facing allegations that his advisers colluded with Russia in its meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

“You have to be honest and get the information out quickly so you can define it and start the process of hopefully moving on,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican communications strategist. “The truth will always come out.”

For months, Trump and his aides have been silent or vague as information has leaked out in dribs and drabs about their contacts with Russians. Instead of releasing information during the campaign or even the transition, Trump continues to blame the news outlets that are reporting the accusations.

“Russia is fake news,” he said at a news conference last month. “This is fake news put out by the media.”

On Thursday, the Russia scandal reached a new urgency as it became known that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have misled his fellow senators in sworn testimony about his interactions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while Sessions was Trump’s chief foreign policy adviser. After hours of debate roiled Washington, Sessions recused himself from overseeing any investigation into Russia campaign meddling after several fellow Republicans pushed him to do so.

 As I said in yesterday's news:

While Sessions' meetings with Kislyak were most likely innocent, he should have mentioned them. Now that the meetings have come out anyway, he looks guilty as sin. It is the Nixon rule of politics: It isn't the scandal that takes you down, but rather the cover-up.

I love it when media outlets steal my ideas.