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Senate Republicans are working the referee as they try to salvage their shot at repealing and replacing ObamaCare. They are specifically turning up the heat on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), hoping to get a more favorable analysis on the next version of their healthcare bill. The CBO’s initial score of the GOP’s healthcare bill found that 22 million more people would be left without health insurance over the next decade compared to under present law. It was a terrible number for GOP leaders, dealing a blow to their hopes of winning over centrist Republicans. GOP senators wanted a better

Richland County will receive slightly more in Payment in Lieu of Taxes funds this year than the county did in the previous year. It was announced this week that Richland County will see $19,999 for its 54,206 eligible acres. Last year, the county received $$19,711. PILT are federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal lands. The law recognizes the inability of local governments to collect property taxes on federally owned land can create a financial impact. The state will receive a total of  $31.8 million in Payment in Lieu of Taxes

A group of Republican senators are requesting August recess be canceled or shortened to give the party more time to make progress on its legislative agenda. The group, which includes Georgia’s David Perdue, Montana’s Steve Daines, Iowa’s Joni Ernst, Louisiana’s John Kennedy, Oklahoma’s James Lankford, Utah’s Mike Lee, South Dakota’s Mike Rounds, Alabama’s Luther Strange, Alaska’s Dan Sullivan and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis wrote Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Friday about the need to focus on five priorities: fixing health care, funding the government, dealing with the debt ceiling, passing a budget resolution, and improving the tax code. “Our current Senate

Members of Congress are home for their 4th of July recess without voting on the Republican’s health care proposal.   Senators Jon Tester, D-MT, and Steve Daines, R-MT, both held public forums over the past week to gather Montanans opinions on the issue. Tester says the current GOP bill is not the answer. So when asked if he is willing to work to fix this proposal or the current law, Tester says yes. If it’s the later, he suggests dropping the politically charged moniker Obamacare.   “Let’s call it the current health care system we have or whatever we want to

A group of 10 Senate Republicans are calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to cancel their scheduled August recess from Washington in order to catch up on their legislative agenda on which they’re falling behind. The relatively small faction among the 52 Senate Republicans want McConnell “to cancel the Senate’s scheduled August state work period if meaningful progress has not been made on the following five priorities: fixing health care, funding the government, dealing with the debt ceiling, passing the budget resolution and improving our tax code,” they wrote in a letter to the Kentucky Republican Friday. There are

The GOP’s long-stalled agenda is boiling over. A group of 10 senators is sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday morning asking for the GOP leader to shorten the August recess — or cancel it altogether — if the party does not make significant headway on its priorities in July, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO. The letter comes right after Congress left Thursday and scattered across the country for a July 4 recess. Spearheaded by Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, the bloc of 10 senators said the five-week break should be on the

The GOP’s long-stalled agenda is boiling over. A group of 10 senators is sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday morning asking for the GOP leader to shorten the August recess — or cancel it altogether — if the party does not make significant headway on its priorities in July, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO. The letter comes right after Congress left Thursday and scattered across the country for a July 4 recess. Spearheaded by Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, the bloc of 10 senators said the five-week break should be on the