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Senior officials have described the coming month as "brutal," “bad” or “really tough” because of the confluence of complicated issues — but they also say it’s pivotal to getting the presidency back on course. Aides hope to have a better blueprint for how the president wants to proceed on a series of thorny issues — the nation’s debt ceiling, the 2018 federal budget, tax reform, infrastructure spending and perhaps another stab at repealing Obamacare — after a series of meetings in New York this week. (Dawsey, 8/13)

Donald Trump’s attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell come at the worst possible time, if the president’s goal is actually to advance his agenda on health care, infrastructure and taxes that he’s goading his GOP ally to pass. ... McConnell’s allies say that Trump’s frustration over the failure on health care is shared by the majority leader. (Taylor, 8/12)

The long August congressional recess, which Republicans had hoped would begin a conversation about tax reform and must-pass budget measures, has so far seen another round of angry town halls focused on President Trump and the stalled effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Over just one day, in three small towns along Georgia’s Atlantic coastline, Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) spent more than four hours answering 74 questions, many of them heated. Just three focused on tax reform; nearly half were about health care. (Weigel, 8/11)

A GOP senator says all Republicans are in trouble politically if they’re unable to scrap former President Barack Obama’s health care law and replace it with a better one. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says he doesn’t mind that President Donald Trump is upset with Republicans for failing to fulfill their seven-year-old pledge on a health overhaul. (8/13)

Democrats used a bus emblazoned with the words “Drive for our Lives” to gin up opposition to vulnerable House Republicans who voted against “Obamacare” with the aim of upending the GOP’s majority in next year’s midterm elections. The vote to repeal and replace the Obama health care law looms large for 21 GOP lawmakers, including Iowa Reps. David Young and Rod Blum. They represent competitive congressional districts where Democrat Hillary Clinton won or came close in last year’s presidential election. (Beaumont, 8/12)

A policy decision by House Democratic campaign officials to in some cases support candidates who oppose abortion rights is dividing the Democratic Party as it tries to settle on a strategy for taking control of the House in the 2018 elections. (Andrews, 8/13)

Medicaid, a 1960s Great Society pillar long reviled by conservatives, seems to have emerged even stronger after the Republican failure to pass health overhaul legislation. The federal-state health insurance program for low-income Americans hasn’t achieved the status of Social Security and Medicare, considered practically untouchable by politicians, like an electrified “third rail.” But it has grown to cover about 1 in 5 U.S. residents, ranging from newborns to Alzheimer’s patients in nursing homes, and even young adults trying to shake addiction. ... Increased participation — and acceptance — means any new GOP attempt to address problems with the Affordable Care Act would be unlikely to achieve deep Medicaid cuts. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/14)

The Trump administration appears poised to roll back ObamaCare’s anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients, a move that has activist groups girding for a fight. A proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to be released in the coming weeks or months that opponents say would make it easier for doctors and hospitals to deny treatment to transgender patients and women who have had abortions. (Weixel, 8/12)