PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Rhode Island General Assembly has a lot of work to do when it returns from this week’s spring break.

There have been 1,119 bills introduced in the state House of Representatives, and 777 in the Senate, since the session began in January. Legislators typically adjourn in June after voting to approve a new budget for the coming fiscal year.
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State House officials said Monday that the House so far has passed 208 of its own bills, plus 31 Senate bills, which includes routine marriage solemnization bills. The Senate has passed 137 of its own bills, plus 40 House bills.

It’s common for lawmakers to spend the first four months of the session vetting bills in committee hearings. The House has heard 602 of its own bills; the Senate, 369. </s> The Senate is expected to hold a key vote Tuesday in the GOP's attempt to repeal Obamacare.

The procedural motion would begin debate on a Republican health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Last week, the President pressed Republican senators to agree to an alternative to the Affordable Care Act before taking an August recess. Sen. John McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive type of brain cancer, announced he would return to Washington for the vote.

You can watch the news conference live in the player above. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate adjourns without action to end partial government shutdown as talks drag on between White House, Congress. </s> Senate adjourns without action to end partial government shutdown as talks drag on between White House, Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate adjourns without action to end partial government shutdown as talks drag on between White House, Congress. </s> SACRAMENTO — It’s getting down to the wire for California lawmakers.

Friday is the last day for legislators to pass bills during this session.

The Senate adjourned about 6:10 p.m. after, according to President Pro Tempore Kevin De Leon, addressing nearly 70 proposed laws.

De Leon said the Senate has about 120 bills to address Friday.

As of 7 p.m. Thursday, the Assembly was in recess, holding committee meetings and expected to return to the floor Thursday evening.

Several hot topics such as housing legislation and SB54, the so-called “Sanctuary State” bill, are awaiting Assembly action.

Governor Jerry Brown has until October 15 to sign or veto bills passed by the legislature. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leaders postponed a vote on a healthcare overhaul on Tuesday after resistance from members of their own party, and President Donald Trump summoned Republican senators to the White House to urge them to break the impasse.

The delay put the future of a longtime top Republican priority in doubt amid concerns about the Senate bill from both moderate and conservative Republicans. With Democrats united in their opposition, Republicans can afford to lose only two votes among their own ranks in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had been pushing for a vote ahead of the July 4 recess that starts at the end of the week. The legislation would repeal major elements of Obamacare and shrink the Medicaid government healthcare program for the poor.

“We’re going to press on,” McConnell said after announcing the delay, adding that leaders would keep working to make senators “comfortable” with the bill. “We’re optimistic we’re going to get to a result that is better than the status quo.”

At the White House meeting with most of the 52 Republican senators, Trump said it was vital to reach agreement on the Senate healthcare measure because Obamacare was “melting down.”

“So we’re going to talk and we’re going to see what we can do. We’re getting very close,” Trump told the senators. But he added, “If we don’t get it done, it’s just going to be something that we’re not going to like, and that’s okay.”

McConnell, whose party has a razor-thin majority in the 100-member Senate, told reporters that Republican leaders would work through the week to win over the 50 senators needed to pass the bill, with a vote planned after the recess. Vice President Mike Pence could provide the crucial vote needed to break a tie.

Related Coverage Top Senate Republican expresses optimism on healthcare bill after Trump meeting

“I think we can get 50 votes to yes by the end of the week,” Republican Senator Roger Wicker said after the White House meeting.

REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION GROWS

The House of Representatives last month passed its own version of a healthcare bill, but the Senate bill has been criticized from both the left and the right. Moderate Republicans worried millions of people would lose their insurance. Conservatives said the bill does not do enough to erase Obamacare.

The bill’s prospects were not helped by a Congressional Budget Office analysis on Monday saying it would cause 22 million Americans to lose insurance over the next decade, although it would reduce the federal deficit by $321 billion over that period.

The report prompted Senator Susan Collins, a Republican moderate, to say she could not support the bill as it stands. At least four conservative Republican senators said they were still opposed after the CBO analysis.

Three more Republicans, Rob Portman of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, said after the delay was announced that they oppose the current draft.

Portman and Capito cited the bill’s Medicaid cutbacks and how that would hurt efforts to combat the opioid epidemic that has taken a heavy toll in their states. The Medicaid program was expanded under former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Senate Republicans about healthcare in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2017. Trump is flanked by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

“I think giving time to digest is a good thing,” Republican Senator Bob Corker said after the delay was announced.

“UNCERTAINTY” ON WALL STREET

U.S. stock prices fell, as the decision to postpone the vote added to investor worries about Trump’s ability to deliver on his promises of tax reform and deregulation, as well as changes to the health sector. Those expected changes have driven a rally in U.S. stocks this year.

The benchmark S&P; 500 index closed down 0.8 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 0.46 percent.

“The market likes certainty and now there’s uncertainty. What is this going to look like when this gets out of the next iteration?” said Peter Costa, president of trading firm Empire Executions Inc.

Passing the measure would be a win for Trump as he seeks to shift attention after weeks of questions over Russia’s role in last year’s U.S. presidential election.

McConnell has promised since 2010 that Republicans, who view Obamacare as a costly government intrusion, would destroy the law “root and branch” if they controlled Congress and the White House. Republicans worry a failure to deliver will cost them votes in next year’s congressional elections.

If the Senate passes a healthcare bill, it will either have to be approved by the House or the two chambers would reconcile the differences in a conference committee. Otherwise, the House could pass a new version and send it back to the Senate.

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Lawmakers are expected to leave town by Friday for their July 4 holiday break, which runs all next week. The Senate returns to work on July 10, the House on July 11. Lawmakers then have three weeks in session before their month-long August recess.

(This story corrects Dow Jones industrial average’s percent loss in 16th paragraph.) </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has adjourned without a deal on spending, an hour after the House ended its session, guaranteeing a partial government shutdown will begin at midnight Friday.

Senators expect to return at noon Saturday as talks continue.

Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials were on Capitol Hill late Friday trying to broker a compromise as President Donald Trump pushes for $5 billion in border wall funding, a proposal Democrats staunchly oppose.

Trump says the government is “totally prepared for a very long shutdown” and just last week said that he’d “own” the partial shutdown.

Without a deal, funding for about 25 percent of the government expires at midnight.

Nine Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice, will be affected by the shutdown. </s> It looks like the government shutdown will end soon. The Senate has advanced a bill reopening federal agencies through Feb. 8 after Democrats relented and lifted their blockade against the legislation.

The shutdown began Saturday after Democrats derailed a Republican measure that would have kept government open until Feb. 16. Democrats wanted to pressure the GOP to cut a deal protecting young immigrants from deportation and boosting federal spending.

Moderates from both parties pressured leaders to end the shutdown and compromise.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats agreed to back the bill reopening government after he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to begin debating an immigration bill by Feb. 8.

The Senate vote was 81-18 - well above the 60 votes needed. The Senate still must vote on final passage to send the bill to the House. </s> U.S. congressional negotiators have hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, the Washington Post reported, citing congressional aides.

WASHINGTON: U.S. congressional negotiators have hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, the Washington Post reported, citing congressional aides.

The Post reported that Congress was expected to vote early this week on the agreement that is expected to include increases for defence spending and border security. The Republican-led Congress averted a U.S. government shutdown on Friday by voting for a stop-gap spending bill that gave lawmakers another week to work out federal spending over the final five months of the fiscal year.
U.S. lawmakers break for summer recess.