As in 2016 and the 2018 midterms, health care has already emerged as a core issue, though there are fissures in both parties. President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 on repealing the law, has promised that Republicans will pass a "really great" health care plan after the 2020 election, although none has been proposed. When California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein pressed on why Barr, as attorney general, didn't think it was his "duty to defend" the current law, Barr doubled down. "Well, the law was originally upheld because the (individual) mandate was upheld as a tax," Barr said of the 2012 Supreme Court decision that upheld the law. Because the Trump administration is no longer defending the law in court, a coalition of 21 Democratic states led by California has stepped in to do so.

Source: CNN April 10, 2019 21:33 UTC