World News: This week in OnPolitics: Week of Wonder

with Jessica Estepa

This week in OnPolitics: Week of Wonder

Happy Friday and welcome to this early-ish edition of your weekly politics roundup (hello, summer staffing). A LOT happened this week (we kicked it off with Jared Kushner insisting he did not collude with Russia, watched tensions grow between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and read some very choice language from not-even-a-week-into-his-job White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci), so we thought we'd try to keep today's roundup from rambling on and on by sticking to two main topics: The failed Obamacare repeal and the fallout of Trump's tweets on transgender troops.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., leaves the the Senate chamber

Say it with us: Phew.

Senate fails to repeal Obamacare

First things first: The Senate's effort to kinda sorta repeal Obamacare has officially tanked. There was a lot of hubbub all week long, but at the end of the day, it came down to the votes of three Republican senators. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined Democrats on the major votes of the week, including saying no on a procedural vote on Tuesday that allowed the health care bill to move forward.

The dramatic turn goes to John McCain of Arizona, though, who flew back to Washington just days after announcing he has an aggressive brain tumor to vote on the legislation. On Tuesday, he voted to proceed on the health care bill before making a dramatic speech about the Senate returning to regular order (which was kinda controversial ). But as Thursday progressed, and it became less clear about what was going to happen with the measure if it passed the Senate, McCain's final decision was up in the air. When he loudly voted "no" early Friday, there were gasps and applause within the chamber.

So, what now? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was "time to move on" rather than try to pass another bill. Democrats have called for bipartisan work on improving the existing law. Here's what the failure of the repeal means for you.

Trump's sudden transgender troops announcement

President Trump fired off a statement in three tweets on Wednesday morning that shook the country : "After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you."

The sudden announcement to dismantle Obama administration that allowed transgender troops to openly serve in the military has led to outcry from the LGBTQ community and its supporters around the country. Caught off guard: The Pentagon and the military. The military has since assured transgender troops that they will keep their jobs and their health care for now, because there has been no official guidance or given by the White House.

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