As an Oregonian, I enjoy some excellent representation. My Congressman is David Wu. My Senators are Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, for whose campaign, I volunteered, hwelping to defeat Gordon Smith, the pseudo-progressive Republican who voted with us whenever we didn’t need him, and against us whenever we did. None of these, however, are my favorite politician. As of today, my favorite politician holds no elected office. I will greatly miss Alan Grayson. Yesterday Ed Schultz interviewed him, and we should heed his words.
House Republicans are setting up the biggest sham in the history of this nation. Faced with the prospect of breaking their own rules in their attempt to kill health care reform, they were ignoring that to do so will cost well over $100 billion in the first ten years and billions in the next ten. How were they going to pay for it? The method they are choosing is the most disingenuous I have seen. They are killing the CBO and replacing it with one proven liar.
Congressional Democrats, removed from their rhetorical shackles by the coming Republican control of the House, are accusing the GOP of resorting to "Enron-type accounting" in their efforts to push legislation in the next Congress.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the incoming ranking member of the House Budget Committee, warned on Tuesday that Republican leadership is set to implement new rules that would effectively do away with the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is often regarded as a nonpartisan, independent scorekeeper for Congress. And by taking away its input in legislative matters, Van Hollen said, Republicans were ushering in an era of make-your-own-reality-based budgeting.
"This is a huge loophole for Enron-type accounting … In the rule they pass tomorrow they are going to reiterate that the chair of the budget committee has the authority to come up with his own estimate of the budget impact of various pieces of legislation," Van Hollen told the Huffington Post. "And a week from now, when they get around to repealing health care reform I think you will see they will go down and say this has zero cost impact."
"It is a wholesale disregard of CBO estimates," Van Hollen added. "After all, CBO is the one referee we have around here when it comes to the budget. So again, we are watching this unfold. But it does seem that they are putting in place the pieces to allow the Chairman of the Budget committee to literally make up the numbers as they go."… [emphasis added]
The proven liar, in this case, is Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan’s priorities are cutting social security, cutting Medicare, cutting Medicaid, and cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires. Under the new Republican House Rules, this may can determing how much any bill will cost or save by fiat.
Most of the time, I’m a Howard Dean fan. I supported his run for the Presidency, cringed when the MSM turned a non-issue, the scream, into a campaign ending event, and have applauded his success as head of the DNC. This time, he is just plain wrong!
Howard Dean weighed in today on the rumors that President Obama is considering former Commerce Secretary William Daley to be his new chief of staff, saying Daley’s appointment would be a "huge plus" for Obama, since he is someone "who knows Washington, but he also is not of Washington."
Dean also spoke harshly of outgoing White House staff, The Hill reports, like senior advisor David Axelrod and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, saying they’ve treated the left with "contempt."
"As they say, don’t let the door hit you in the you-know-what on the way out," he said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast today… [emphasis added]
The last thing America needs is another machine politician with deep Bankster ties. We need a progressive. Keith Olbermann and author, Robert Kuttner, agree.
Kuttner is absolutely correct that there is a difference between business and Wall Street and that, unless Obama changes course, he and we will pay the price in 2012.
I’m still feeling under the weather, but I have a full slate of articles today and am up to date on comments. As I write am listening to CSPAN-2 with disgust as new Republican Senators tell their first official lies, their oaths of office.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 4:59 (average 5:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Reuters: The incoming Republican budget chief in the U.S. House of Representatives said he will demand spending concessions from the Obama administration in exchange for any rise in the national debt ceiling.
As predicted, negotiation for the hostage begins. Obama must not give in to Republican terrorists.
From Alternet: The US private sector added 297,000 jobs in December, nearly three times the number expected by most analysts, private payrolls firm ADP data showed Wednesday.
The stronger than expected increase marked the 11th straight month of gains in payrolls, offering hope that the jobs sector, still struggling in the post-recession recovery, is gaining traction.
We can be sure that Republicans will try to take credit for this, even though they are just now taking power in the House. Unless they do something obscene to trigger a financial crisis, no legislation passed out of the House will have any effect on the economy for twelve to eighteen months.
From ABC: ABC News has learned that Bachmann, R-Minn., also is seriously weighing whether to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.
Which would be sweeter, a TwitterTwit/Batshit ticket or a Batshit/TwitterTwit ticket?
Cartoon:
Get out the Vaseline. It’s hump day and Republicans have the House.
The Republicans have a new hostage, the faith and credit of the United States. I first predicted this in November in Republican Roulette with the Debt Ceiling. I followed it up in December in The Next Republican Hostage. I discussed how giving in to terrorist demands makes them more likely to take hostages and more recalcitrant in their negotiations in Sorry, Joe. I Don’t Believe You!. And now we have arrived. Let me repeat that giving in to Republican demands, no matter what they are, is not an acceptable strategy, because it amounts to giving in to terrorist demands. Obama and the Democrats in Congress must call their bluff. Personally, I do not believe they will go through with it. To do so would write their own political death warrant. This is not the time for more cowardice.
Battle lines are being drawn in Washington with the Obama administration accusing Republicans of playing a dangerous game of chicken over the federal government’s debt limit.
The ABC reports the 112th US Congress begins midweek and Republicans have signalled [sic] they won’t agree to increase the federal debt level.
They also promise early votes on spending cuts and say they will hold investigations into wasteful government spending.
The ABC reports the federal debt limit is $US14 trillion, which the administration says is likely to be reached sometime in March.
Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina, Republican) told Meet the Press on NBC on Sunday he would not support a higher debt ceiling unless spending is cut to 2008 levels.
"The last election was about change, change that really will make us something other than Greece," he said.
The US budget deficit was $US1.3 trillion in 2010.
On Face the Nation on CBS, Minnesota Republican representative Michelle Bachmann said:
"Congress has had a big party the last two years. They couldn’t spend enough money and now they’re … taunting us about ‘How are you going to go ahead and solve this big spending crisis?’."… [emphasis added]
For those that wring their hands, quiver and ask, “But what if the actually do it?”, I say, let them. As big a tragedy as that would be, allowing the Republicans kill Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Environmental quality, women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights and more, one hostage at a time would be far worse.
While I think Republicans will have no success in repealing health care reform, because their repeal won’t get through the Senate, even if it does pass the House on January 12, which it probably will. But the manner in which Republicans are approaching this reveals not only the depth if their hypocrisy, but also that were in for a highly unproductive two years.
Politico reported this afternoon that House Republicans will hold a vote on January 12th to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democrats quickly accused the new majority of bringing the measure to the floor without allowing time for adequate debate or bipartisan negotiation. During a joint appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball this afternoon with Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) argued that Republicans will force the Congress to vote on repeal without first considering the consequences of completely eliminating the measure…
…Watch it:
Indeed, Democrats in the House held “79 bipartisan hearings and markups” since 2008, incorporated Republican amendments and posted the original House bill online for 30 days. Republicans, meanwhile, intend to post the repeal legislation tonight but have not announced any formal hearings or plans to bring Democrats into the process.
But throughout the 15-month health reform debate, the GOP repeatedly accused Democrats of ramming through the health care bill without going through a bipartisan process… [emphasis added]
The fact is, Republicans have still announced no plan with which to replace this one, and, given their propensity to institute death panels to oversee healthcare for the poor, the wisdom of Alan Grayson remains as to what they intend.
Since it’s been so long, here is a timeline:
More parts of the sweeping healthcare law passed in March 2010 take effect this month just as Republicans take over the House of Representatives vowing to dismantle the bill.
Any changes would require support from both the House and the Democrat-controlled Senate as well as President Barack Obama, who made the healthcare law a top domestic goal. The law aims to expand healthcare insurance to roughly 30 million Americans and imposes a host of new industry rules and taxes.
Democrats say elements starting in 2011, combined with other consumer protections that took effect last year, will boost support for the measure, although House Republicans will hold a vote on repeal this month.
Here are some of the law’s major provisions and when they were implemented or are set to take effect:
2010
Several consumer protection rules took effect in September, including allowing children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until age 26, banning lifetime coverage limits and ending denial of coverage for children because of pre-existing health conditions.
A temporary insurance program was created to help provide coverage to "high risk" patients with pre-existing conditions.
A phase-in of tax credits began for certain small businesses that provide health insurance to workers.
2011
Health insurance companies — which include Aetna Inc and WellPoint Inc — face new limits that call for at least 85 cents of every premium dollar to go toward medical costs, with 15 cents for overhead and salaries.
Small group or individual plans must spend at least 80 cents per dollar on care.
Drugmakers must offer a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs for elderly or disabled Americans enrolled in Medicare’s Part D prescription drug plans who also hit the so-called "doughnut hole" coverage gap. Generic drugs will also cost less.
2012
Private Medicare plans called Medicare Advantage will see lower government reimbursement payments. The plans can offer more benefits than traditional Medicare coverage but also can cost more.
To help pay for the overhaul, the pharmaceutical industry — including Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co Inc and other drugmakers — begin paying more than $2 billion a year in taxes… [emphasis added]
As flawed as this bill was, it is still better than no reform at all and far better that the grim reaper we would face under Repiblicare, if there were such a thing.
On December 30, I posted Is Being Republican a Brain Defect?, discussing the British study that indicates that primitive brain functions are more prominent in right wingers, while higher brain functions are more prominent in lefties. One of our readers, who shall remain Nameless, followed with an excellent link to an article about John Dean, author of Conservatives without Conscience. It doesn’t usually take Keith Olbermann this long to catch up to things I post, but he has an excuse. He’s been on vacation. Here’s Keith with John Dean.
Now I’m not suggesting that the Republican base should be lobotomized or anything like that, and I recognize that, even if this research pans out, individuals have the ability to overcome such physiological propensities. But at least the knowledge might spare lefties some frustration by explaining why trying to talk sense with a Teabagger can be like trying to talk haute cuisine with a cannibal.
I’m running a little behind today, because I came down with a cold and overslept. I’m feeling like something that should be buried in the deep end of my cat box, but could not pass up having some material to work with. I did, however, stay up to date on comments.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:58 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From TPM: A few years ago, Tim Griffin was a key figure in of the biggest scandals in the Bush administration. Democrats said — and the Justice Department Inspector General later concluded — that the Bush White House and Justice Department pushed out U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins III to give Griffin, a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, a plum spot as interim U.S. attorney that would pad his resume.
Now Griffin, who was elected to Congress from Arkansas in November, has been named by House Republicans to be a member of the House Judiciary Committee — the very same committee which took a close look at his own role in the scandal that ultimately lead to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
They clearly have no shame whatsoever.
From Huffington Post: The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
We all know where LGBT folks stand in the hierarchy of the extreme fascist right. Congrats, Ladies! You have been assigned the same status in the pecking order.
From Me: Don’t be upset if Senate rules reform doesn’t come up for a vote tomorrow. As long as the appropriate motion is made and accepted on schedule, they can defer the voting to negotiate the actual changes without losing the ability to approve it with 51 votes.
Congressional Democrats, removed from their rhetorical shackles by the coming Republican control of the House, are accusing the GOP of resorting to "Enron-type accounting" in their efforts to push legislation in the next Congress.
Howard Dean weighed in today on the rumors that President Obama is considering former Commerce Secretary William Daley to be his new chief of staff, saying Daley’s appointment would be a "huge plus" for Obama, since he is someone "who knows Washington, but he also is not of Washington."
Battle lines are being drawn in Washington with the Obama administration accusing Republicans of playing a dangerous game of chicken over the federal government’s debt limit.
While I think Republicans will have no success in repealing health care reform, because their repeal won’t get through the Senate, even if it does pass the House on January 12, which it probably will. But the manner in which Republicans are approaching this reveals not only the depth if their hypocrisy, but also that were in for a highly unproductive two years.
More parts of the sweeping healthcare law passed in March 2010 take effect this month just as Republicans take over the House of Representatives vowing to dismantle the bill.
Here’s Keith with John Dean.