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patriotsnet · 3 years

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How Many Republicans Would Have To Vote For Removal

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How Many Republicans Would Have To Vote For Removal

The House Just Voted To Impeach President Trump Here’s What Happens Next

How Many Republicans and Democrats Have Been President – Brief History #4

From CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf

The House has just voted to impeach President Trump for the second time making him the only US president to ever be impeached twice. The resolution passed 232 to 197.

The impeachment resolution the House voted on charges Trump with;a single article, “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s deadly Capitol riot.

Ten Republicans, including the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, joined with Democrats to impeach Trump.

There is no such thing as a routine impeachment but this one is unprecedented in all sorts of ways.

The overall impeachment process laid out in the Constitution is relatively simple:

A president commits “high Crime or Misdemeanor”

The House votes to impeach

The Senate conducts a trial

This impeachment process will feel entirely new and different from the one we saw in late 2019 around the Ukraine investigation, most notably because the Senate trial is expected to occur after Trump leaves office.

Here’s why that’s important:

New President Joe Biden will be asking the Senate to vote on his Cabinet nominees and act on legislation to address the Covid pandemic as well as relief for Americans hurt by the troubled economy.

In 2020, Senate business ground to a complete halt during the trial. This time, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to pursue a half-day schedule to conduct the trial part of the day and business the rest of the day.

Watch the moment:

Trump’s Iron Grip Loosens

With just a week left in his term, it now appears all but certain that Donald Trump will become the first president to be impeached twice.

Unlike his first go through the process, this vote will have the support of at least a handful of Republicans – including Liz Cheney, a member of the party’s House leadership team. There is also, unlike January 2020, a chance the Senate has enough votes to successfully convict the president. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent signals of approval are evidence of that.

Of course, the primary consequence of Senate conviction – removal from office – seems of limited relevance with so little time left in the Trump presidency. Democrats, however, view impeachment as a formal way of marking their outrage at the president’s behaviour, not just last week, but during his months of challenging and undermining November’s election results.

A successful conviction could also result in Trump’s being banned from ever holding federal public office again and stripped of the privileges enjoyed by ex-presidents.

That prospect alone, in the minds of Democrats , makes impeachment worth the effort.

Liz Cheney Vote Count Latest Elise Stefanik Could Replace Wyoming Republican After House Gop Voted To Remove Her

8:30 ET, May 13 2021

GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik is favored to take over the position formerly held by Liz Cheney before her ousting on Wednesday.

Stefanik, the 36-year-old lawmaker from New York, originally criticized former President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign for his “inappropriate, offensive” comments on the notorious Access Hollywood tape.

Since then, her stance has flipped, and when she voted against Trump’s impeachment, he called her a “new Republican star.”

Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 2014, and the first woman to serve as the recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Cheney, 54, lost her post as House Republican Conference chair due to ongoing comments against Trump.

Cheney has often been vocal against former President Donald Trump and politicians from her own party.

The Republican was also facing backlash from colleagues as she has criticized them for promoting the big lie of baseless election fraud back in 2020.

Trump and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise have backed Stefanik.

On Tuesday, Cheney gave a speech on the House floor firing back at Trump and blasted fellow Republicans for backing the former president even after the attack on the US Capitol earlier this year.

Read our Liz Cheney live blog for the latest on the vote…

You May Like: Why Are Republicans Wearing Blue Ties

House Republicans Join Democrats In Voting To Impeach Trump

Washington Ten Republican members of the House, including one of its highest-ranking leaders, joined Democrats in voting to impeach President Trump for inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol last week by a violent mob of his supporters.;

The final vote was 232 to 197, as the 10 Republicans joined all 222 Democrats in voting in favor of the impeachment resolution.;

The article of impeachment will next be delivered to the Senate, where Mr. Trump will be placed on trial. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the House vote that there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week.

Mr. Trump is the first president to be impeached twice. When he was;impeached;in 2019 over his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, no House Republicans voted in favor of impeaching him. But this time, 10 members of his own party determined his actions warranted impeachment.

Here are the Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump:

Liz Cheney of Wyoming

Tom Rice of South Carolina

Fred Upton of Michigan

David Valadao of California

Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said in a statement on Tuesday that she would vote to impeach Mr. Trump after he whipped up his supporters Wednesday at a rally not far from the Capitol.

A Majority Vote In The House Is Needed To Impeach Trump But 20 Republican Senators Will Need To Join A Vote To Remove Him

GettyTrump at the Social Media Summit

Impeachment proceedings are more complicated than they might sound. If you recall, in former President Bill Clintons administration, there were enough votes to impeach him but there were not enough votes to convict and remove him. This could happen again with President Donald Trump. You can read all the laws on impeachment proceedings here.

A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach Trump. This might not be difficult since the Democrats have a majority in the House.

If all 435 House members vote, they would need 218 votes for a majority to be reached and for Trump to be impeached.;There are 235 Democrats in office in the House, one Independent, and 199 Republicans, Reuters explained.

So getting a majority of Democrats wouldnt be difficult, since a majority of House Democrats already supported impeachment earlier this year. But even with an impeachment vote, Trump would still not be removed from office.

With a majority vote in the House, articles of impeachment would be approved that lay out all the impeachable offenses. Treason and bribery qualify as crimes warranting impeachment, as do other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

But this is not all that is needed to remove a sitting President. They would then need 2/3 majority of the Senates 100 members to vote to for the President to be removed from office. That means a total of 67 Senators would need to vote to convict and remove the President.

Don’t Miss: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid

Ten Republicans Joined Democrats In Impeaching Trump A Historic Second Time A Move That Was Quickly Met With Condemnation Back In Their Home States Theyve Been Publicly Scolded Pushed To Resign And Warned That Local Organizations Will Mount A Strong Push To Oust Them From Office In The Primary

After my last election, I had decided not to run again. But the vote by Congressman Valadao to impeach President Trump with no witnesses, evidence, or without allowing any defense was too much for me to stay on the sidelines, Chris Mathys, a former Fresno, California, city council member, told;Newsweek.

Valadao, who represents Californias 21st district, wasnt in office during Trumps first impeachment, as he had been ousted from office in 2018 by Democrat TJ Coxx. In November, Valadao won back his seat from the Democrat who beat him in 2018 by less than a point. The Republican placed blame on Trump for the Capitol riot, saying that his rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent and absolutely an impeachable offense.

That vote in favor of impeaching Trump violated the trust of the millions of Americans that voted for Trump in the November election, according to Mathys, who unsuccessfully sought a seat in New Mexicos House during the 2020 primary. The decision was so egregious, that Mathys doesnt think voters will forget it.

Whit Ayer, a GOP strategist, told;Newsweek;it was a very gutsy decision to vote in favor of impeachment because they knew they would likely draw challenges. However, it remains to be seen how much the impeachment will play in the 2022 primary and one of the factors that is still up in the air is how much of a political powerhouse Trump will be in 18 months.

The 7 Republican Senators Who Voted To Convict Former President Donald Trump Explain Their Rationale

Donald Trumps second impeachment trial came to an end Saturday with 57 senators voting to convict, falling short of the two-thirds margin required to find him guilty of the charge of incitement of insurrection in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths. Seven GOP senators broke with their party voting along with all 48 Democrats and both independents in the body.

After the 57-43 vote, the Republicans who defied Trump explained their decision.

Richard Burr, North Carolina

The facts are clear, Burr said in a statement after the vote. The President promoted unfounded conspiracy theories to cast doubt on the integrity of a free and fair election because he did not like the results. As Congress met to certify the election results, the President directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to disrupt the lawful proceedings required by the Constitution. When the crowd became violent, the President used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault.

Burr originally voted that the trial was unconstitutional, but said in his statement that the Senate is an institution based on precedent, and given that the majority of the Senate voted to proceed with this trial, the question of constitutionality is now established precedent.

He has already announced he will not be running for reelection in 2022.

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska

Mitt Romney, Utah

Recommended Reading: How Many States Are Republican

Why Most Gop Senators Are Likely To Oppose Conviction

Despite strong bipartisan elite fury and dismay over Trumps conduct leading up to and during the January 6 crisis, the base hasnt abandoned him in any significant way. Yes, hes losing some support across the board, but not enough to embolden Republican rebels. A new Axios-Ipsos survey dramatically shows the current public opinion dynamics: A majority of Americans now favor removing Trump from office, but a majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss, support him, dont blame him for the Capitol mob and want him to be the Republican nominee in 2024. Among the more than one-third of Republicans who appear to identify with Trump more than with their party, support for Trump 2024 which of course conviction in the Senate would make impossible is at an astronomical 92 percent.

Republican senators will be reluctant to fight that sentiment, particularly since there are so many ways they could vote against convicting Trump without condoning his conduct. As his presidency quickly recedes into the background, Senate sentiment for formally burying him may recede as well.

House Democrats To Vote To Remove Gop Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Of Committee Assignments

Panel: Will 17 Republicans ACTUALLY Vote To Convict Trump?

House Democrats are set to push ahead with stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after Republicans opted not to punish the Georgia congresswoman for past comments shes made in support of harmful conspiracy theories.

Greene has claimed that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and high-profile school shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary attack are hoaxes and has called for the execution of prominent Democrats.;

The Rules Committee Wednesday voted to bring the matter to the full House for a vote Thursday that will decide whether Greene can stay on her committees for the rest of her term.

More:Donald Trump’s backers failed to take down Liz Cheney. But the GOP’s ‘civil war’ is nowhere near over.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democrats Greene had said should be killed, denounced Republicans for not expelling Greene from the caucus. “McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans ‘the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon’ and Rep. Greene is in the drivers seat,” Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that identified McCarthys party identification as Q.;

We had hoped that the Republican leadership would have dealt with this. For whatever reason, they dont want to deal with it. And that’s unfortunate. So we are taking this step,” said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass, who chairs the Rules Committee. “The question we all have to ask ourselves is what is the consequence of doing nothing.

Matthew Brown

Read Also: What Is The Pin The Republicans Are Wearing

Security Concerns Among Trumps Supporters

Trump doesnt appear to want to go away quietly, which is also a cause for concern from a security standpoint.

This week, a leaked internal FBI bulletin warned that armed protests are planned for all 50 states and Washington DC in the days before President-elect Joe Bidens inauguration on January 20.

Some state capitol buildings have begun boarding up their doors and windows, while 15,000 National Guard troops have been mobilised for deployment to the nations capital ahead of expected violence and unrest.

This is an unfortunate sign of how many expect Trumps supporters to respond to both his impeachment and Bidens inauguration even with Trump finally urging against further violence and unrest.

Most presidents aim to leave office with the nation better off than when they entered, but Trumps legacy appears to be cementing a more divided country, where his brand of aggressive conflict politics may be the new norm.

This is a no-win situation for the country. And Republicans are still trying to figure out which side of history they want to be on.

Republicans Gear Up To Oust Liz Cheney As Punishment For Criticizing Trump

Goaded on by the ghostly figure of Trump, House Republicans are poised to eject Cheney from her number three leadership post

Infighting within the Republican party is set to come to a head this week, goaded on by the ghostly figure of former president Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago hideout in Florida.

House Republicans are gearing up to oust Liz Cheney on Wednesday from her position as the partys number three leader in the chamber.

Her removal would come as punishment for her public criticism of Trump with regard to his role in inciting the 6 January Capitol insurrection and his big lie that last years presidential election was stolen from him.

Cheney was one of 10 Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump for incitement of insurrection.

Leading Republicans took to the political talkshow circuit on Sunday to express support or opposition to the congresswoman from Wyoming. Critically, Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader who has in the past stood up for Cheney, made their break-up official when he told Fox News that he was endorsing Cheneys rival Elise Stefanik for the number three post.

What were talking about is a position in leadership. As conference chair, you have one of the most critical jobs as a messenger going forward, McCarthy told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.

Jim Banks, an Indiana congressman who chairs the largest Republican caucus in the House, attempted to justify the action against Cheney on grounds of party discipline.

Recommended Reading: Who Gives More Democrats Or Republicans

Liz Cheney Booed On Her Way Out

Republican lawmakers booed Rep. Liz Cheney when she criticized Trump in her speech responding to her removal from leadership.

“We cannot let the former president drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy,” she said. “Down that path lies our destruction, and potentially the destruction of our country.”

Are There Enough Senate Republican Votes To Convict Trump

The brisk and successful drive to a second impeachment of Donald Trump and his ebbing power in Washington have raised some hopes that this time around the U.S. Senate might actually convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors and bar him from future office . Predictions that this could happen appear to be based largely on the relatively low level of Senate Republican support for Trumps electoral-vote protests on January 6, and a surge of questionably sourced claims that Mitch McConnell might actually support conviction.

Its worth taking a closer look at how many Republican senators might reasonably be expected to throw Trump into the dustbin of history. Seventeen GOP senators would have to break ranks to convict him on the incitement to insurrection impeachment article, assuming Democrats stick together . After conviction, only a simple majority would be needed to prohibit Trump from holding future office. Who might these Republican defectors be, in theory?

Recommended Reading: Where Do Democrats And Republicans Sit In Congress

Here Are The Republicans Calling For Biden’s Removal Amid Afghanistan Fallout

The fall of Kabul on Sunday and the resultant emergency evacuation of U.S. citizens from Afghanistan have triggered a wave of outrage among lawmakers, with numerous Republicans going beyond mere criticism of the Biden administration’s drawdown of U.S. troops to say that the president ought to vacate office.

The invocation of the 25th Amendment, resignation, and impeachment have all been promoted in recent days as possible solutions by a growing number of Republican officials, who say Biden’s actions since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban call into question the president’s fitness to serve.

Here are the GOP members who have called on Biden to leave or be removed from the Oval Office so far.

25th Amendment

Multiple lawmakers have said the use of the 25th Amendment may be in order.

Sen. Rick Scott: “After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment?” Scott wrote in a tweet Monday.

Rep. Claudia Tenney: Tenney, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was less equivocal, saying it is “clear” Biden is failing to perform his duties.

Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought during the previous Congress to establish a commission within the body to participate in 25th Amendment proceedings during the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Resignation

Impeachment

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mercenarypark · 7 years

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“ hotaliens said: WHEN U CAN talk about medic and his birds, red scout and blu scout mayhaps, ANDdddddddddddddddd what the mercs do on the weekend “ hey guys remember how i said i was gonna talk about hcs well let me finally get around to that hours late here we go

[Medic and Birds]

[these go for RED and BLU medic]

-Medic’s mother had a cockatoo, she absolutely ADORED him even when he was a baby, though ofc his mother made sure to monitor their interactions together; and even as an infant he always treated that bird with surprising gentleness, never pulling or prodding hard. that cockatoo never bit him harder than a warning nip, and she would somehow always know how to calm him down from a tantrum.

the bird died of illness right around the time the war started, and to this day he believes that somehow, those were connected.

-medic stole his flock of doves[technically homing pigeons] from a wedding in England, not realizing that the catering van he’d stolen had an entire flock of birds and a makeshift aviary inside. the method with which he retrained them is,,,,,,, unconventional and spoiler-y for some things i have written but not published

-he holds full conversations with birds, often- not just his own, but birds in the trees, on the street, in pet stores and houses.

-the flock is mostly his homing pigeons from his stolen wedding flock, and their children; with a couple of fancy pigeons stolen from pigeon shows[because lord knows the poor things need some help, esp the ones who’ve been bred to fit a certain standard at the cost of their health and ability to function], and a few feral street pigeons he’s adopted

-the flock mostly refers to him as “papa”, “Vati” or “Opa”

-he speaks to them in German, Yiddish, and English- they understand all three

-he cries every single time an egg hatches. every time. sadly he cant let EVERY egg that they lay, hatch, because he’d never be able to care for them all, but the flock understands this and lets him remove eggs as he pleases, and in return he gives them all as much love and attention as he can

-medic’s office is his makeshift aviary, though he very rarely keeps them cooped in there- for the majority of the day they have free roam of the base. they all know where home is

-heavy, pyro, and scout all are allowed to play w/ medic’s birds whenever they want, heavy and pyro both have a key to medic’s office so they can get into the aviary without having to ask [scout WOULD have one but she’s notorious for losing keys]

-----

[RED Scout BLU Scout]

-for clarities sake, again, there are a lot of things i[and gabby+em]’ve written but not published that i dont want 2 spoil, and the reason that theres two of every merc is one of them; but i will say that yes, there are two versions of scout who mostly have the same backstory shit, but things differ when theyre hired as mercs

-[also, both scouts use she/her and occasionally they/them]

-both scouts have a long standing hatred for the other, and absolutely target each other on the battlefield

-this is at least a LITTLE BIT because of self loathing, IE “im gonna beat the shit out of the person who looks exactly like me”, though neither of them realize that

-RED scout is the one who comes to terms with the fact that she’s trans first and that just amplifies how much she HAAATES the BLU scout

-but RED scout is also the first of the two to go through character growth and become a genuinely better person, as she slowly comes out to her family and friends, finds support in her teammates, accidentally adopts medic as her unofficial dad, unlearns a lot of internalized bullshit,

-which infuriates BLU scout because suddenly RED scout doesnt seem to really care about fighting her anymore

-and then BLU scout overhears one of RED mercs refer to RED scout w/ she/her pronouns and has a fucking crisis of confusion [but also validation]

-and after a lot of internal turmoil brought on by the UNBELIEVABLE Mental Fuckery that has got to come with realizing that the alternate version of yourself is openly trans while you’re still confused and closeted,

-BLU scout decides yea u know what. im trans and im not gonna hide it anymore, esp since apparently all the RED versions of my teammates are accepting so like, the BLUs should be too right???

-and they are

-BLU scout and BLU medic aren’t as close as RED scout + RED medic, for multiple reasons, but in both cases the scouts came out to the medics first [because, Hes Doctor]

-after BLU scout starts going through her own Character Development[tm] and mellows out, both scouts are pretty chilled on the battlefield towards each other, even joking with each other about their teammates, nowhere near as violent and vicious as they were before

-most of the time that they DO fight its more casual and more like rough-housing, with bullets and also spiked baseball bats

-sorry this mostly turned into Gender Stuff hdfjghh but i took that prompt to mean “both scout’s relationships 2 the other” and the answer to that is, well, “fight” ----

[weekend]

[some of these are specific to the RED versions of everyone, sorry, though most are more general]

-demo is usually working one of his other jobs- piano gigs at fancy establishments, art commissions[hes a pretty fantastic painter, he prefers more abstract pieces and he has a very distinct style with a strong sense of movement and fluidity], and some volunteer work at the ol’ kitten orphanage [he’d work at the regular human orphanage next door, but, well. he’s got bad experiences with those. and hes scared of messing up around children]

basically even when hes technically off duty, hes still always working- its the degroot way, whether he likes it or not

but when he can relax, he usually spends as much time as he can with his parrot, keeping her entertained and socialized and happy; he also spends a lot of time in engies workspace watching him build and repair stuff while they drink together, with pyro playing whatever game they’re hyperfocused on at the moment, and, in the old days, he would spend a lot of time sneaking out to be with BLU soldier... Those days are gone in the times of WAR, of course

-engie, of course, is usually still working as well. honestly he doesnt even notice the fact that its the weekend half the time unless someone tells him, he’ll just keep pouring over blueprints and fine tuning designs.

if you do pry him away from his work table long enough, though, he will crash on the nearest soft surface and sleep for 15 hours. rancho relaxo time motherfucker

-medic becomes a cryptid every goddamn weekend, unless you check one of four places: his bedroom, heavy’s bedroom, his office/aviary, and the morgue. you will not see him literally anywhere else. he is also only seen with at least 5-6 birds on his person at all times, as opposed to his usual 1 or 2.

he spends most of the time on the weekends being v overaffectionate with both his birds and heavy; and the rest of the time cutting open dead bodies in the morgue and injecting them with weird shit

-heavy spends a lot of time reading and writing on the weekends- editing older drafts of books he’s written, translating things to and from English to practice his skills with the language, and just, reading books he’s had recommended to him or old favorites. sometimes he reads out loud to medic while medic is busy with other things [IE he’s distracted by birds or corpses]

-spy? literally just this textpost by gabby.

http://thefrenchiestfrytisi.tumblr.com/post/161502800096/ok-before-i-go-to-sleep-though-this-image-from

you dont need any more info than that. this is perfect. spy spends like 5 hours in the bath every saturday and 6 every sunday and its always like this

-pyro is the other cryptid at the base, no one can ever find them unless pyro WANTS to be found so they can show off a drawing they did, or a card trick they learned, or just so they can hang out w/ someone for a while

-scout is either playing Video Games[tm] from the moment she wakes up until she passes out, or she is outside jogging for 3 hours straight and then she impulse steals a golf cart, there is no middle ground here -every single saturday, soldier doesnt realize its the weekend, gets completely ready for battle, runs outside, and only sees the other soldier. and they just both fight each other for the next couple hours until someone gets them both to come inside. the rest of the weekend she’s “taming” her raccoons and planning for the next fight

-i dont care about sniper

#hotaliens #IVE STILL GOTTA RESPOND TO BIRCHMERE'S BUT THAT WONT BE TOO HARD #ilu both #long post /#text heavy /#ive literally been writing on this on and off for hours hdkfhgh #frend #birds /#medical /#death /#medical abuse /?#ask to tag /#reblog if u want idc /#captain's log #tf2 posts

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omcik-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/koch-group-says-republican-health-plan-doesnt-go-far-enough/

Koch Group Says Republican Health Plan Doesn't Go Far Enough

(Photo: Thinkstock)

(Bloomberg) — Leaders from the influential Koch political network expressed concern about the Senate Republican plan to reshape the nation’s health system, saying as they met with donors at a Colorado resort that the measure isn’t sufficiently conservative.

“We’ve been disappointed that movement has not been more dramatic toward a full repeal or a broader rollback of this law, Obamacare,” Tim Phillips, the president of the Koch-affiliated political advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, told reporters.

(Related: What Donors Want From the Lawmakers They Helped Elect)

“We worked to make the House bill better and it did get better,” he said. “We’re doing the same thing on the Senate front.”

Unveiled on Thursday as a discussion draft after weeks of work done in secret by a small number of lawmakers, the Senate plan was immediately criticized by Democrats and some Republicans. Five Senate Republicans have said they oppose the bill in its current form.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can only afford two defections from his party to pass the bill in the 100-member chamber.

Opposition from the Koch network, which has delivered tens of millions of dollars to Republican candidates and causes in recent years, promises to further complicate the perilous path McConnell faces.

‘Can Get Done’

“We still think this can get done,” Phillips said. “It has to get better.”

Phillips spoke on the first day of a three-day donor retreat at a luxury Rocky Mountains resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. He was also among those who met Friday evening with Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the event.

“It was a good, cordial discussion of issues, including health care,” Phillips said of his talk with Pence.

Pence also huddled privately on Friday with billionaire Charles Koch. The vice president, who has long ties to the Koch brothers, had been at the resort for a fund-raiser for Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who will also speak at the Koch event.

Phillips praised President Donald Trump for his judicial appointments and said his five-month-old administration deserved an “A-plus” for efforts to reduce regulations. “There is a lot of respect from us for what they’ve done,” he said.

On Sunday, the group will hear from Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who’s gained national prominence in the past year as a Trump critic. Other Republican senators scheduled to appear include Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona, and John Cornyn of Texas.

Policy and Campaigns

Four Republican governors are also on the schedule: Greg Abbott of Texas, Matt Bevin of Kentucky, Eric Greitens of Missouri and Doug Ducey of Arizona.

Phillips reiterated a previously stated Koch network goal of spending between $300 million and $400 million on policy and political campaigns in 2017 and 2018, up from the roughly $250 million invested in the 2016 campaign season. Some of the money will be spread across Koch-affiliated groups to expand a political network that has a presence in 36 states.

“We think it is going to be on the high end of that range,” Phillips said.

Phillips and other Koch network panelists who met with reporters expressed none of the angst that some conservatives have voiced about the early months of Trump’s administration.

Under different circumstances, the gathering of wealthy donors at the five-star Broadmoor resort might have been celebrating policy victories harvested from Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. Instead, Trump is embroiled in multiple investigations into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion by his campaign.

Regulatory Rollback

Other than the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, filling a seat vacant for over a year, the network has little to show for its investments in recent years. The Affordable Care Act remains law, there’s been little progress on overhauling the nation’s tax system, and there’s a distinct possibility trade will become more restrictive, counter to the Koch preference for free markets.

Still, James Davis, spokesman for the Koch political network, downplayed the notion that the Trump administration hasn’t accomplished much yet from the group’s wish-list. Instead, he pointed to a reduction in “burdensome regulations” and discussions about changing the tax system.

“There’s been more progress in the last six months at the federal level than there has been in last 10 years,” he said.

The Koch brothers and their network didn’t support Trump’s campaign. The organization has also denounced several of the president’s positions, including the proposed travel ban on some refugees and immigrants. Freedom Partners, another group partially funded by the Koch brothers, has also warned that Trump’s call for a $1 trillion infrastructure package could become a “spending boondoggle.”

‘Just a Show’

The network, which has more than 700 donors who give a minimum of $100,000 a year, has convened the seminar twice annually since 2003. It last met in January, days after Trump’s inauguration.

Chris Rufer, a libertarian-leaning Koch donor who runs a vast tomato-processing business in California’s Central Valley, said he sees little reason for optimism from Washington.

“It’s just a show and they really don’t do much,” said Rufer, who’s belonged to the network for about a decade. “They are truly incompetent in Washington.”

Earlier on Saturday, former National Football League star Deion Sanders defended the Koch brothers as unfairly demonized. Sanders attended the meeting as part of a fund-raising effort for the anti-poverty nonprofit group Stand Together, which is backed by Charles Koch.

— Read 4 ACA Change Paths That Just Got More Popular on ThinkAdvisor.

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