Chicago Sun-Times
Despite having seven years to craft an alternative healthcare bill that wouldn't suck, the GOP dropped the ball anyway when it couldn't muster enough votes needed to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) earlier today. I would like to thank the Freedom Caucus (an ultra-conservative group of Republicans in the House of Representatives) for being so heartless in their attempt to strip away components of AHCA that would provide basic medical needs to pregnant women and sick individuals that sensible Republicans (yes, I too can't believe that such a group exists in the U.S. government) couldn't support the legislation if the Freedom Caucus had its way. I would also like to thank Donald Trump for undermining his presidency by not being able to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) 64 days after he was sworn into the White House...despite saying during his presidential campaign that he would accomplish the feat on Day One of his first (and only?) term in office. And House Speaker Paul Ryan showed that he is as ineffective a leader in his party as he is a spineless patsy to Trump.
NASA / Bill Ingalls
But if I'm gonna say some nice things about Trump, it's that at least he signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 last Tuesday. This bill calls for a $19.5 billion budget for NASA in 2018...which supports the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter, the Mars 2020 rover that is Curiosity's successor, and a manned mission to the Red Planet by 2033. So thanks to Obamacare being left intact (and in Paul Ryan's words, remaining "the law of the land"), 24 million Americans who would've lost their health coverage under AHCA by 2026 will (hopefully) be alive to see humans set foot on (or at least orbit) the Red Planet in a little over 15 years! Awesome.
And of course, thanks to the demise of AHCA, I'll still be able to take medication without any issues for the illness, known as Valley Fever (or Coccidioidomycosis), that I contracted five years ago. To the Republican Party: Your utter incompetence saved the lives of many Americans today...including possibly mine. Thank you.
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