| | | | Pence: Trump 'very close' to Obamacare replacement | | In less than 40 hours, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as America's 45th president. His first huge legislative challenge: Repealing President Barack Obama's health care law and -- here's the hard part -- replacing its coverage.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence said today that Republicans do not yet have a bill to replace Obamacare, but that he has "seen a lot of great ideas" and that transition officials and GOP leaders are "getting very close" to having a replacement. "It's being crafted right now," Pence said in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, when asked about a replacement to the President's signature health care law. "We're getting very close. We expect to have that plan come forward in the early days of the administration."
Trump put this pressure on himself: Pence's comments came after Trump said in an interview Saturday with The Washington Post that his health care replacement plan "is very much formulated down to the final strokes," comments that have worried Republicans on Capitol Hill who believe it will take Congress weeks at least to replace the law, also known as the Affordable Care Act. | | Confirmation hearings: What you missed today | | Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, broke with Trump and said he doesn't believe climate change is a "hoax."
Tonight's must-read: Pruitt took a hands-off approach to an environmental crisis that shook Oklahoma, writes CNN's Maeve Reston.
A wrap on today's hearings: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, tapped by Trump to be UN ambassador, questioned at her Senate confirmation hearing whether the United States' funding of the world body is worth it. Billionaire Wilbur Ross, Trump's pick for commerce secretary, wants countries that resort to "malicious" trading tactics to be "severely" punished. Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price, defended himself from accusations of inappropriate financial investments.
Coming up tomorrow: The confirmation hearings of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Trump's pick for energy secretary, and Steven Mnuchin, the nominee for secretary of Transportation. | | "Mary Pat made really clear she wasn't coming to DC if I went." -- NJ Gov. Chris Christie maintained that he would have landed a top White House job if only his wife would have let him. | | | | Both the nation's 41st president, George H.W. Bush, and his wife, Barbara Bush, have been hospitalized. He wrote this note to President-elect Donald Trump to let him know why he won't be at the inauguration Friday. Trump responded with a tweet this afternoon: | | Obama's adieu: 'At my core, I think we're going to be OK' | | Barack Obama used his departing words as President on Wednesday to offer an assured -- if not entirely optimistic -- outlook for a country governed by Donald Trump, writes CNN's Kevin Liptak. "At my core, I think we're going to be OK," Obama said as he concluded his final news conference at the White House. "We just have to fight for it, work for it, and not take it for granted."
When will Obama weigh in? Obama said he would avoid weighing in on specific policy matters during his post-presidency, using his time instead to write and "not hear myself talk so darn much." But he predicted he would voice concern if "core values" are being threatened. "I put in that category if I saw systematic discrimination being ratified in some fashion. I put in that category explicit or functional obstacles to people being able to vote, to exercise their franchise," Obama said. He also called conservatives' claims of voter fraud "fake news."
A memorable line about Obama's daughters: "What we've also tried to teach them is resilience and we've tried to give them hope," Obama said, "and that the only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world."
A message to Trump on media access: Obama gave the first question today to Jeff Mason of Reuters, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association. He also called on reporters from conservative Fox News and from an LGBT outlet. The last question was more personal: Obama called on The Chicago Tribune's Christi Parsons -- who has covered him since his days as an Illinois state senator in Springfield.
Then-and-now: How Obama looked on election night in 2008 vs. now, as he leaves the White House: | | | President-elect Donald Trump has written his inaugural address draft himself, CNN's Jeremy Diamond and Sara Murray report. Trump on Twitter today shared an image of himself writing what he said was his inaugural address at his Mar-A-Lago estate last month. | | Trump national security team slow to engage | | | The Trump transition team for national security has been slow to interact with the Obama administration's National Security Council, CNN's Jim Sciutto and Elise Labott report. Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer denied the reports and told reporters during a conference call that the incoming deputy national security adviser, K.T. McFarland, "has met with her counterpart countless times" and he added that "there's been readings of briefings that have been sent over." | | | Soon-to-be first lady Melania Trump is considering a male social secretary. ... Former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz says Donald Trump could become an "illegitimate" president. ... Trump has followed through on his obligation to pay $25 million to settle the Trump University lawsuit. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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