<span id="docs-internal-guid-1745e15d-849a-3c90-8554-17f40f81763a"> <div> <p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">On July 25, your social media feed was likely filled with victory cries from those seeking to repeal and replace the </span><a href="http://votesmart.org/bill/10637" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration-line: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Affordable Care Act</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (ACA) with the still-evolving Senate version of the </span><a href="http://votesmart.org/bill/22765" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration-line: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">American Health Care Act</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (AHCA). Opponents also took to social media with messages of defeat. However, the debate is anything but finished.</span> </p> <br style="font-size: 12.8013px;"> <p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what’s actually going on with the Senate healthcare bill? Is the Affordable Care Act repealed? And, what is the Senate voting on?</span> </p> <p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, it’s tricky, so bear with me—I’m not even sure if someone currently voting in the capitol can easily explain where the debate stands. I’ll simplify the issue and provide a brief timeline of how we got to where we are today.</span> </p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <br> </span> </div> </span>

&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-16abc7b3-c12f-e840-2c7b-89cfaad268a1" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Good afternoon. Today, the United States of America is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba.” These were the opening lines of Barack Obama’s </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/public-statement/943109/" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">announcement</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of his plans to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba back in December of 2014. Those words could have also opened President Trump’s </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1166226/remarks-by-president-trump-on-the-policy-of-the-united-states-towards-cuba" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">speech on Friday</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where he announced plans to roll back some of the changes set forth by the Obama administration. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp; <br> &nbsp;</span> <p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8013px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime,” President Trump proclaimed, ”until all political prisoners are freed, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected, all political parties are legalized, and free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled. Elections.”</span> </p> <p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8013px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> &nbsp; </p> <p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8013px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">These plans come just weeks after the bipartisan coalition consisting of US Senators </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/65092/" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amy Klobuchar</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (D-MN), </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/558/" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mike Enzi</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (R-WY), </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/53353/" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patrick Leahy</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (D-VT), and </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/28128/" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jeff Flake </span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;">(R-AZ) </span><a href="https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1162172/" style="font-size: 12.8013px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; white-space: pre-wrap;">introduced legislation</span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that would lift the Cuban trade embargo. </span> </p> </span>

<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8013px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19.2019px;">Did you miss our Live-Tweet event for the Republican Debate? You can get a recap of all we did here!</span>