Louisiana

BY BILL CLARK and TOM WILLIAMS

A busy week in politics was capped off with the unveiling on Thursday of the Republican's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Roll Call's photographers captured the scrums of reporters surrounding senators for reactions as they made their way through the Capitol.

A few key Senate Republicans are already raising concerns with the discussion draft of a health care bill unveiled Thursday, which could threaten its passage if the measure comes up for a vote next week.

Multiple senators raised concerns with the draft they were briefed on Thursday morning, although many said they needed to review the proposal in full. Senate GOP leaders can only lose two Republican votes on the measure for it to pass with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote as no Democrats are expected to vote for the measure. GOP leaders hope to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote next week.

When the usually lighthearted run-up to the annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game was marred by a horrific shooting at the Republican practice session last week, Capitol Hill came together for an emotional night of bipartisanship and baseball. But one thing it did not do was make the players go easy on one another.

“I did tell [Republican manager Texas Rep. Joe L. Barton] that I love him before the game, and I love him after the game, but during the game, we’re going to play to win,” Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, the Democratic manager, quipped at a pre-game press conference. With the coveted Roll Call Trophy on the line, that was exactly what they did, defeating the Republican squad, 11-2. Despite the lopsided score, though, there were standout individual performances on both sides.

Was it the fleurs-de-lis?

On a day when his GOP colleagues donned Louisiana fleur-de-lis flair, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise’s condition improved to fair and he is beginning an extended rehabilitation process, MedStar Washington Hospital Center said in a statement Wednesday.

U2 frontman Bono sent well-wishes to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Tuesday during the band's concert in the Washington area.

Scalise was shot during practice for the Congressional Baseball Game last week in Alexandria and has been hospitalized since then. 

As members flew back to town for the first time since the baseball practice shooting, the House’s No. 3 Republican remained absent indefinitely, and his leadership post was already being occupied temporarily.

The trauma to the Capitol from the grievous wounding of Steve Scalise, who’s set to remain hospitalized into the July Fourth recess and may not return to work before Labor Day, was not reaching in any visible way into the workings of his majority whip operation.

BY JOE WILLIAMS AND NIELS LESNIEWSKI

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken full control of the chamber’s effort to rewrite the U.S. health insurance system, prompting frustrated Republican members to vent their dissatisfaction over the secretive process.

The injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise wasn’t far from his colleagues’ thoughts Tuesday, as several of them wished him well and provided impromptu status reports on the Louisiana Republican’s condition. 

Scalise “is doing a lot better,” Speaker Paul D. Ryan said at an event at the National Association of Manufacturers on Tuesday. “He’s responding, breathing on his own,” the Wisconsin Republican said.

A solid majority of Democrats said they would give up alcohol for the remainder of their lives if it meant President Donald Trump would be impeached tomorrow, according to a survey conducted by Detox.net.

The website, which works to help drug and alcohol addicts get sober, asked more than 1,000 Americans what they would give up drinking for. Seventy-three percent of Democrats surveyed said they would choose impeachment over alcohol. Only 17 percent of Republicans who took the survey said the same.