“Intelligence porn” — FBI Director James Comey describing WikiLeaks while getting grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Grill gone wild.

COUGH, VOTE, COUGH

THE STORY

Today, the House GOP will put its healthcare plan up for a vote.

10 SECONDS REMIND ME.

Earlier this year, the GOP debuted a plan to replace Obamacare. It changes the way the gov gives people an assist when paying for health insurance, gets rid of a rule that forces everyone to buy a plan, and caps funding for Medicaid (aka the program that helps cover low income and disabled people).

BRING ON THE OPINIONS.

Dems said ‘hard pass,’ saying the new plan doesn’t cover enough Americans. And a lot of GOP lawmakers said ‘next’ too. Some said the plan didn’t cover enough people with pre-existing conditions (think: asthma, diabetes). And others said it doesn’t roll back enough of Obamacare. Ever since, Congress has been at the negotiating table to come up with something that’s not too hot, not too cold, jusssttt right.

OK, WHAT NOW?

After a lot of back and forth, yesterday the the GOP finally said ‘ta da! We have a solution!’ The fine print? The gov will let states decide if insurance companies should cover “essential benefits” (think: maternity care, emergency services). It will also set aside $8 billion over five years to help people with pre-existing conditions pay for health insurance. Some of those GOP holdouts are now giving this a thumbs up. But critics say that it still might not be enough cash money.

theSKIMM

President Trump campaigned on the promise of repealing and replacing Obamacare. Today is a temperature-taking of that promise, and the outcome could affect millions of Americans.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT PEOPLE ARE WATCHING...

The police shooting in a Dallas suburb. Earlier this week, the officer who recently shot and killed a black teen there was fired. The shooting took place Saturday, when officers went to a house party to investigate reports of under-age drinking. One of the officers shot at a car leaving the party and ended up killing one of the passengers - Jordan Edwards - a black teenager. The police department initially said the officer started shooting as the car was moving “aggressively” towards the officers. Then they said body cam footage actually shows the car driving away from the officers. So now the county’s investigating. This is just the latest in a series of police shootings of black men making national headlines. Two of those cases recently came to a close. Earlier this week, the former South Carolina officer who shot and killed Walter Scott back in 2015 said ‘guilty’ to violating Scott’s civil rights. In a separate case, the Justice Dept. said it won’t charge the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling last year in Baton Rouge, LA.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT…

I’ll just have to file for bankruptcy. Yesterday, Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy protection. Note: Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth aka its citizens are US citizens but it has its own local gov and doesn’t pay federal taxes. For years, certain US tax breaks there made doing business on the island very appealing. But those tax breaks expired in 2006. So businesses started taking a boat off the island. A lot of Puerto Ricans followed, meaning there were fewer people on the island to pay local taxes. Cue a decade-long recession and the local gov borrowing money from US investors to keep the lights on back home. But the island’s $74 billion in debt. And the investors want their money back. So now Puerto Rico is headed to a federal court where a judge will help the island restructure its debt. This is an unprecedented move because normally US states can’t file for bankruptcy. But Puerto Rico can get away with it since it’s kinda sorta not really a state. Great for Puerto Rico. Not so great for those investors because it’s looking like they’ll be forced to take some pretty steep losses. Money, not in the bank.

WHAT TO SAY AFTER YOU’VE STARED AT THE SAME DOC FOR HOURS...

Time to get some fresh eyes on this. Facebook’s saying the same about videos posted on its site. Yesterday, the company said it’s hiring thousands of people to keep an eye on content and flag anything that’s violent or criminal. Facebook’s been under the microscope for a video platform that makes it very easy for people to post disturbing content. See: the livestream of four people abusing a teen with disabilities earlier this year. And a man in Cleveland posting a video on Facebook last month showing him fatally shooting an elderly man. That video was up for hours before Facebook took it down. Now Facebook is hoping that with more people watching content on its site, it can catch these things and “take the right action sooner.” Meanwhile, Etsy’s taking some action too. Earlier this week, the company put out meh earnings. Because it’s apparently struggling to get people to buy handmade lip balms and moonstones. And behind the scenes, an activist investor’s also been pushing for change at the company. So now Etsy’s going to replace its CEO and fire dozens of workers to cut back on costs. The rest of the office is looking for hand-drawn ‘farewell’ cards.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUR OLD FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE VISIT AND YOU STAY OUT UNTIL 3 AM...

I’m too old for this. Prince Philip feels you. This morning, Buckingham Palace announced that the 95-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is stepping down from public life later this year. Aka he’s retiring, and will get to drink tea and (let them) eat cake all day. Cheers.

THING TO KNOW

Tony Romo: The retired football player. In a shocking turn of retirement events, he’s taking up golf. But he’s going fore the win, and taking a swing at a US Open qualifier next week. When in Romo.

SKIMM LIFE

Skimm HQ is mixing things up. Specifically, liquor things. Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby are this weekend. And we like any excuse for a happy hour. This service makes it easy to get all the ingredients at once…without having to carry them up the stairs. Get a little off the delivery on us when you try it out.

P.S. This is an affiliate partner, which means if you sign up, theSkimm may get something in return. Thanks.

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