| President-elect Joe Biden assailed Republicans on Tuesday for seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the Supreme Court while promising Americans he will defend and improve the 10-year-old law in a nation’s capital that anticipates a narrowly divided government next year. Speaking in Wilmington, Del., the former vice president offered a forceful defense of ObamaCare only hours after the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case seeking to put an end to the health care law eight years after justices upheld the landmark legislation. “It’s a law that saved lives and spared countless families from financial ruin,” Biden said, adding that plans to work with lawmakers to improve the health care law “as soon as humanly possible” (The Associated Press). However, the Supreme Court showed signs that it could uphold the politically-charged law, and did so from a surprising source: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. During oral arguments, Kavanaugh seemed to express the view that if the court were to strike down the provision of the law mandating the purchase of health insurance, the rest of the law should be allowed to survive, as The Hill’s John Kruzel details. “Looking at our severability precedents, it does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place, the provisions regarding preexisting conditions and the rest,” Kavanaugh said. Chief Justice John Roberts, who famously upheld the ACA in 2012, was somewhat more equivocal but pushed back forcefully against an argument by Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins. Eighteen Republican-led states are pushing the court to strike down the law entirely. Eight years ago, Roberts ruled the law was constitutional with a decision that its individual mandate was a tax. Republican lawmakers did away with the mandate’s penalty in 2017 and litigators for GOP lawsuits argue the law should collapse altogether. Roberts expressed skepticism, noting that Congress passed up the chance to amend the law to remove its requirement that Americans must have health insurance. A Supreme Court decision is expected in late June. CNBC: Supreme Court appears willing to leave ObamaCare in place. The Associated Press: ObamaCare likely to survive, high court arguments indicate. The Hill: Biden seeks to use his own bully pulpit to combat COVID-19. The president-elect argued again on Tuesday that Congress has rejected Republican attempts to repeal the landmark Affordable Care Act, and he assailed “numerous efforts by President Trump to erase the law.” He said “these ideologues are once again trying to strip health coverage away from the American people” in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eager to project calm and resolve while answering reporters’ questions about Trump’s refusal to concede a loss, Biden said he had not yet spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) but expects to do so, and has consulted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) about Democrats’ legislative plans for the lame-duck period in December. Fox News: “The Electoral College will determine the winner,” McConnell said, arguing that Trump can pursue legal challenges until then. The Washington Post: Fear of losing Senate majority in Georgia runoffs drives GOP embrace of Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud. McConnell’s decision to withhold acknowledgement of Biden’s victory until the Electoral College acts in December was not his or other Republicans’ position in 2016 when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 77,000 ballots in three states after she won the popular vote. When asked about House and Senate Republicans who have declined to publicly acknowledge he is the president-elect, Biden appeared unruffled. “They will,” he replied (The Hill). Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who is retiring in 2022 and represents battleground Pennsylvania, joined four other Senate Republicans who have acknowledged Biden’s victory. "We're on a path — it looks likely Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. It's not 100 percent certain, but it is quite likely. So, I think a transition process ought to begin," he told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 during an interview on Monday. The president’s insistence on contesting ballots in court is “an embarrassment,” Biden added, but he said he understood the disappointment of losing an election, noting that his own transition planning to govern beginning on Jan. 20 was proceeding well and would not be marred by administration foot-dragging inside agencies and departments (The Hill). A delay in receiving national security briefings from the Trump team and access to the intelligence-laden President’s Daily Brief would “be nice,” Biden added, but was not a huge hurdle for the time being. He has received regular intelligence briefings since July. Hours after his transition team told reporters they were exploring legal action to try to compel cooperation from the administration, the president-elect dismissed the idea, suggesting confrontation would be unnecessary. The Hill: Top Republicans throw their support behind CIA Director Gina Haspel, who met with McConnell on Tuesday and is reported to be on Trump’s might-fire list. The former vice president noted heads of state and government who have congratulated him since last week. His reply to well-wishers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and France during their conversations: “America is back.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a possible presidential contender in 2024, was asked by reporters on Tuesday whether the State Department will cooperate with the Biden transition. "There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration," he said wryly (The Hill). White House aides have largely kept their heads down, although some have privately acknowledged Biden and his team will take office in 10 short weeks (The Hill). Biden said he aims to name key Cabinet nominees before Thanksgiving and designate White House senior advisers before that. The Associated Press: Bidenomics: More stimulus, tougher regulation and gridlock. Bloomberg News: Bidenomics: What the president-elect could mean for business and the economy. “One of the things Democrats have learned is that unless there is real change, that working people really do feel a difference, we would be setting the stage for another Trump. A different Trump, but another Trump,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “It is really important that economic growth is more broadly shared, so it doesn’t just go to the top 1 percent.” The president-elect and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Tuesday named teams of advisers for plans to begin governing next year in specific agencies and departments. 
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