�Թϲ�����

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... 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. (Tate and Wise, 5/10)

President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey is distracting from work in the Senate on repealing and replacing ObamaCare, says Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “I think he already has,” Collins told reporters in response to a question about whether Comey could become a distraction. The Senate has begun working on a healthcare bill separate from the legislation passed by the House last week intended to replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. (Weixel, 5/10)

A highly anticipated markup of a must-pass Food and Drug Administration bill was postponed Wednesday because of partisan sparring over the firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. The delay comes after the Senate Finance Committee last week indefinitely postponed a hearing on the Children’s Health Insurance Program because of the toxic politics of the Republican health care bill (HR 1628). The cancelations raise questions about whether a deluge of drama consuming the Capitol could push lower-profile but important health care legislation off the rails. Both bills — which congressional leaders hoped to pass without major controversies — need to be addressed well before their Sept. 30 deadlines so the FDA employees and children’s health providers who rely on funding affected by the bills can keep working. (Siddons and Raman, 5/10)