Comey firing means trouble for Trump’s health care and tax plans

[WestVirginiaRebel]

McClatchy

WASHINGTON 

Already in a struggle to find enough votes to back President Donald Trump’s agenda, Republicans are about to find the going even tougher after the firing of James Comey as FBI director.

Republicans control 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats, and it usually takes 60 votes to get nearly anything done. In the coming months, the Senate faces already-contentious Trump initiatives on overhauling the nation’s health care system, revamping the tax code and, more immediately, crafting a budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Even before the Comey firing, Republicans had reasons to stray from the party line.

Nine Republican senators face re-election next year. While only two, Nevada’s Dean Heller and Arizona’s Jeff Flake, are considered vulnerable, turmoil over Trump could have an unpredictable effect on the election. With controversy such as the one engulfing Congress this week, senators could be more skittish about taking tough votes.

Flake laughed. “Health care’s hard enough,” he said.

 

Even Republicans who expressed support for Trump’s firing of Comey said it could prove to be distracting to lawmakers as the Senate moves forward with the president’s agenda.

“That’s always a concern,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “We have a narrow majority in the Senate and we have a job to do.”

________

More trouble ahead?