United States

Immigration was also the focus of another controversial executive order early in Trump’s term. Issued in late January, the order suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and, in the eyes of many, effectively fulfilled Trump’s campaign promise to institute a “Muslim ban.” This so-called travel ban was immediately greeted with widespread protests at U.S. airports. By early February, enforcement of the ban had been enjoined nationwide by order of a district court in Washington state. After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay the order, in March the Trump administration superseded the first executive order with a second that was crafted to get around the constitutional challenges to the first that were grounded in the assertion that it violated both the due process clause and the establishment-of-religion clause. Enforcement of the new ban—which removed Iraq from the list of countries involved and narrowed the categories of affected persons—was blocked by injunctions issued by district courts in Hawaii and Maryland that were largely upheld in May and June by the Fourth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals, respectively. In June the U.S. Supreme Court put these cases on the docket for its October 2017 term and in the interim removed the injunctions for “foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

Pursuing “repeal and replacement” of Obamacare

The “repeal and replacement” of Obamacare—another of Trump’s central campaign pledges and a fundamental objective for the Republican Party during the Obama era—moved forward slowly, in fits and starts. In the absence of a detailed plan from the Trump administration, House Republicans, led by Speaker Paul Ryan, took the lead in advancing the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which was intended to reduce the federal government’s involvement in health care without eliminating the care provided for millions of Americans by the PPACA, long characterized by Republicans as a costly catastrophe. Introduced in March, the AHCA met with lockstep opposition from Democrats and proved contentious with Republicans. The bill did away with the PPACA’s requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, rolled back federal funding of Medicaid, and, as part of nearly $1 trillion in proposed tax cuts over 10 years, promised $274 billion in tax cuts for Americans earning at least $200,000 per year. According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, the AHCA would trim the federal deficit by some $337 billion over 10 years, but it would also leave an additional 24 million Americans without health insurance. The most conservative House Republicans argued that the bill did not go far enough in undoing Obamacare, while moderate Republicans feared that it would leave too many people unable to pay for health care. In response to this lack of consensus, Ryan pulled the legislation in March, before it was put to a vote, but at the beginning of May a revised version of the act was adopted by a 217–213 vote in which 20 Republicans joined the Democrats in opposition.

John McCain’s opposition and the failure of “skinny repeal”

As the bill moved to the Senate for consideration, a number of opinion polls indicated that it was deeply unpopular with the public. Agitated protest over the proposed changes to Obamacare greeted members of Congress when they met with constituents during legislative breaks. Under the direction of majority leader McConnell, the Republican leadership crafted a Senate version of the bill behind closed doors. When the Senate version emerged, retitled the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) of 2017, it took an approach similar to that of the House bill, though it called for earlier and more substantial cuts to Medicaid funding. Meeting with opposition from both hard-line conservative and moderate Republican senators, the BCRA lacked the support necessary to obtain the quick passage McConnell had sought before the congressional recess for the July 4 holiday, and a vote on it was delayed.