Orrin Hatch cries about the lack of bipartisanship while Rangel says God only knows what the Republicans are doing
By John Amato Monday Jul 20, 2009 2:00pm
(h/t Heather)
Orrin Hatch was whining about bipartisanship on Face The Nation Sunday. Are you ready for another David Broder article criticizing the Democrats for not including the teabaggers? Rangel slaps little Orrin for lying about the parameters of the House bill. It's of course the House of Lords that is mucking up the works. The House has delivered a bill the the CBO likes.
HATCH: But it’s become so political. The House bill’s a total partisan bill. The health committee in the Senate, the Senate bill, is a total partisan bill. And our only hope, maybe, is to have Senator Baucus be able to put something together on the Finance Committee in the Senate.
RANGEL: We’ve been dealing with this bill for -- for over six months. And we’ve had hours of hearings. And the fact that it’s not bipartisan is not because we Democrats don’t want to have a bipartisan bill. We don’t have any Republican answers. It’s easy to say what you don’t like about this bill. But it would be far more constructive if we had something to work on. So I’m depending on my friend Orrin Hatch to... (LAUGHTER) ... at least in the Senate, to try to see, is there a Republican bill in the Senate? There certainly isn’t in the House. And it’s just wrong to say that this is a tax on small businesses. We exempt small business from a lot of the penalties. We give tax credits so that they’re able to hire and get people health care in small businesses. This is a tax on less than 1 percent of the wealthiest people in the United States of America. And so to say that this is a penalty on small business just isn’t so. Sure, we wish we had more time.
Hatch is lying again since Sen. Grassley has said he's been working with Baucus on a bill. Maybe he should confer with his own party in the Senate instead of going on TV and crying about being left out. He's a Senator, for the love of God. Maybe he could write another song for us?
HATCH: Well, I think so. I mean, you’re talking about one-sixth of the American economy. You’re talking about myriad problems here. You’re talking about people who are all over the map, as far as what they really want to do. And I think there’s a really good reason why the president wants to do it. He knows he can’t sell if it lasts -- if the debate lasts very long because it is so expensive and costly.
SMITH: All right. Congressman, let me ask you this, because there is overwhelming support across the country for some kind of health care reform. The same question I asked the senator: Is this going too fast? And are the ideas that are being put out there -- are they realistic?
RANGEL: We’ve been dealing with this bill for -- for over six months. And we’ve had hours of hearings. And the fact that it’s not bipartisan is not because we Democrats don’t want to have a bipartisan bill. We don’t have any Republican answers. It’s easy to say what you don’t like about this bill. But it would be far more constructive if we had something to work on. So I’m depending on my friend Orrin Hatch to... (LAUGHTER) ... at least in the Senate, to try to see, is there a Republican bill in the Senate? There certainly isn’t in the House. And it’s just wrong to say that this is a tax on small businesses. We exempt small business from a lot of the penalties. We give tax credits so that they’re able to hire and get people health care in small businesses. This is a tax on less than 1 percent of the wealthiest people in the United States of America. And so to say that this is a penalty on small business just isn’t so. Sure, we wish we had more time.
RANGEL: But the president has given us a deadline. We’re working under it. Our committee has reported out a bill. We’re waiting for the Senate to do what? Do anything.
SMITH: Senator, let me ask you this. This notion of trying to take Medicare spending away from Congress, give it to a separate sort of independent agency as one means of trying to cut some costs, any chance of that that is going to happen?
HATCH: Well, they’re doing that in England right now. And you can’t get health care when you need it. And when you do get it, it’s generally too late in some areas.
HATCH: Well, that’s right. And, frankly -- well, let’s be honest about it. One of the big problems is, is that we really haven’t been invited very strongly into either bill in the House or the Senate. And there hasn’t been a real interchange with Republicans on this issue. We have a lot of ideas I think would help. I don’t blame Charlie for that. I blame the leadership. And I blame the president for pushing something so hard so that they’re definitely afraid that over the August recess that if they don’t get this passed, it’s...
SMITH: Folks are going to go home and get an earful.
HATCH: Well, that’s right. And they are going to get an earful, because you’re talking about mandates on small businesses, businesses with 20 to 249 employees that really are going to kill small business and kill jobs. SMITH: Congressman, let me ask you about the idea of taxing health care benefits as a means of trying to draw down some of these costs. Is that off the table?
RANGEL: Well, I can’t say for the Senate. I have no idea what they’re doing over there. Clearly it’s off the table -- well, everything is on the table. My committee did not put it in our bill. Any recommendations that has been made by CBO has been made after we reported our bill. They believe that it’s cost-saving for the administration to be able to set the reimbursement costs of Medicare while everything is on the table. I don’t see the executive branch being able to set the course if they can’t raise the taxes. And so everything is on the table. And to say that Republicans in the Senate are not involved, my friend Chuck Grassley, the senator on the Finance Committee, he spends more time in the White House than I do. So the opportunity is there for anyone to jump in. And I welcome anything that Republicans want to do to improve this bill.
SMITH: All right. Senator, what were you going to say, real quick?HATCH: Well, let’s be honest about it. The real problem here is, is that you’ve got Senator Baucus, who is trying to put together a bill that would use the exclusion, in other words, would tax health care above a certain level. They’re talking about $25,000 plans now and taxing above that. I’m shocked that there are $25,000 plans. They tell me there are in New York some of them, even for teachers. Well, the problem with that is, is that if you don’t do that, then there’s a gradual push-up all the time in cost so that you have Cadillac plans over regular plans that really would work.
SMITH: All right. Very quickly, Congressman, has the president done enough to shepherd this through?
RANGEL: The president is working around the clock to do something. And I don’t want to be negative about the other party, but, quite frankly, they haven’t presented anything to the Senate, to the House, or to the country. So the president is doing his part. We, in Ways and Means, are doing our part. We have a deadline. We will meet it. The question is, what do we expect the other House to do? God only has the answer to that. And my friend Orrin
Hatch.
Login or Register to post comments.
It's not bipartisan because of this, you piece of shit, Hatch.
hatch is a big hunka, hunka shit
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! The Repugs were notoriously partisan during the George W. Bush administration. They had control of the White House, both Houses, and an attitude of "F*ck you; we're gonna do whatever we want!" They froze out anyone who didn't agree with them.
And they're still that partisan! Look at Rush Limbaugh, hoping that the Obama administration fails just so his buddies can get back into power. And others hoping for another 9/11 attack. Eeew!
BTW, I'm delighted to see all the items on health care in C&L today. I'm happy to see all the talk on health care reform in the blogosphere in the last several months. I'm a Canadian who really wants to see Americans get better health care. My favorite motto is "What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all." That quotation is from J.S. Woodsworth, an eeevil Canadian socialist who was a Member of Parliament during the 1930s.
Everyone out there keep pushing on this issue!
You got it - his lips were moving.
Oh dear! The republicans weren't sent an engraved invitation to join in the discussion about health care reform? How absolutely rude of the democrats. No wonder the republicans are always angry, they don't get invited to do the cool things in DC, things like work and do their job. Poor Orrin, always a victim.
I remember the republicans budget, three or four pages with no numbers included. I imagine their health care reform plan would include tax cuts and some sort of survival instructional book.
This is what they are thinking. They are probably very pissed off that DeMint let the cat out of the bag. Who knows but this is the bottom line and they ask why won't they invite us to the table? Fuck them. Bastards.
He's dumb. He cannot understand the difference between the talking points and the introductory notes on their strategy. Luntz will need to put in asterisk in every memo from now on - * DON'T SAY THIS PART OUT LOUD.
Hatch thinks we're too busy watching American Idol, The Biggest Loser, Fox, etc. to remember all the lies and how badly he and his band of GOP dipshits fucked up this Nation.
Republicanzi take care of themselves exclusively.
republicanzi weaken democracy.
a four-leaf clover.
We all recall the one piece of paper "law" that Bush's Secretary of the Treasury handed to Bush and the Congress back in the fall of 2008:
"Hold your hands up! Higher!!! This is a stick up!
Take all the dough out of the Federal Reserve Bank....print more if necessary, for about a cool trill'.
Wire transfer it to AIG, Lehman Bros. and Goldman Sachs pronto or there'll be MARTIAL LAW!!!"
And don't try nothin' funny!"
http://www.************.com/paulson-was-behin...
says anything about "Cadillac" health-care plans, somebody needs to dump a large load of shit and offal on their heads.
Nothing violent.
Just empty a bucket of shit, innards, garbage and effluent over their heads.
Every fucking time...
EVERY
FUCKING
TIME!
MAJOR public health hazard...
Might make 'em noivous.
Can someone - ANYONE - tell this dumbass that "bipartisan" doesn't mean one side does everything the other side wants?
And can someone else please remind numbnuts that the last "bipartisan" bill was the stimulus package that not one Republican voted for after whining for weeks about "bipartisanship."
I don't think the Republicans want democracy last i heard. Even thought they do a lot of talking about it when they are the minority, i don't think they can do bipartisanship.
Enabling the crooks may not be your best strategy though. Everyone you named sold their soul to corporations decades ago. How much did you get for yours?
Even the repugs know that the system is failing and huge numbers are going without insurance or adequate health care. At least take the time to study up on the latest reich wing talking points!
For whom? Let's have some details from you, rather than just blubbering idiocy. And Luntz talking points.
Arthur's knitting with only one needle.
Idiot troll...I see you reregistered under another name, albeit another version of the character Fonzie's name. How pathetic and disgraceful to Henry Winkler.
And how totally asinine on your unimaginative trollish part.
Loser.
(Here comes the but...)
But, it would be fun to have a couple of cracker jack reporters like John Amato and Nicole Bell track Luntz down and pigeon hole him with a whole bunch of questions.
Of course they'd video tape the whole thing and put it up here.
Just a thought....
Come on! It'd be worth a laugh or two!
Dumbass.
.
Say the Democrats start with a great idea...like "Medicare for All". Keep it simple stupid.
Then they start "compromising" on this, "compromising" on that with the Republicans...and on and on it goes.
It's kind of like the "Telephone Gossip Game" we all played as kids. Remember? You sit the group in a circle and one person whispers something to the one next to him and on and on it goes.
By the time it comes back to the original person the message is NOTHING like the original...A spin here, a spin there, pretty soon we have THE SERIOUSLY WATERED DOWN PUBLIC OPTION!
Well, so long as the corporate health insurers are happy, we should be too. Right? Right??!
When these fuckers say this crap it pisses me off. I just want to break my computer. This dick is disingenuous at best but in reality a lying son of a bitch. As soon as they pull this card out they should absolutely be slapped because he is screwing of Americans. This anti American Hatch should be slapped. Same with McConnell yesterday. They are screwing their constituents. Just becasue their constituents are idiots does not make it ok.
doesn't mean they actually are. (Fixed elections). I got so frustrated last night, that I broke my mouse right in the middle of a rant. I had to go buy a new one today. I am no longer going to beat innocent inanimate objects. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself.
If you hadn't broken it, the health insurance company would have figured out how to get the money you spent on a new one, out of you
Please explain to me what the fuck this means. I'll bet this jerk could not do a push-up if his life depended on it. Why the hell is he talking about push-ups? He is flabbergasted that there are $25,000 plans. Maybe he should go loock at his plan. Dip shit.
bullshit. Luntz/Rove talking point #34.
And why would that be you scum. And what would Tom Delay have done? Fuck you. Where is your bill?
Yeah right! The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed The Affordable Health Choices Act, landmark legislation that will reduce health costs, protect individuals’ choice in doctors and plans, and assure quality and affordable heath care for Americans. The bipartisan bill includes more than 160 Republican amendments accepted during the month-long mark-up, one of the longest in Congressional history.
I watched one of these hearings where Senator Dodd moved to approve 64 amendments from Republicans without debate. The ranking GOP member looked puzzled, discussed with several other people, and said that some of his Republican colleagues wanted to debate their OWN amendments.
I saw that too. There needs to be a commercial with that in it. It was unreal.
Aww, the R devil wants to be bipartizan, a two party system again! Too late for that.
I guess since Hatch brought up England, I shall repeat my previous statement:
If England had the same health system as that of the US, I probably wouldn't have a dad anymore.
I would further like to submit a motion for Hatch to shut his fucking mouth.
Motion accepted and amended. Send Hatch to prison for treason after he shuts his mouth.
Ok, we can expect David Gregory and John King to use this as their topic of discussion this coming Sunday? Is there any possibility of that Happening?
Orrin Hatch..."hey, us Rethuglicans wanna spend money hand over fist too!! Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!"
Don't worry gang. Dems and Rethugs won't let the "too big to fail" insurance industry fail with their new and improved Healthcare 2.0!! What's next to get bailed out? It's kinda like a game now. Trillions for you, and you, oh and you. It's like the politicians are on a sinking ship known as the USS America, and are trying to help all their rich buddies float by padding cash under their armpits!
These mother fuckers are the proverbially abusive, ex-husband still yelling at and attempting to intimidate his ex-wife. The same assholes who wouldn't throw the Democrats a Goddamned bone for years.
Fuck them.
.
Hatch is (and has always been) such a whiny little double-faced lying bitch. If Republicans are in power, he gets his way (as on the Senate Judiciary Committee) by saying, "We're in power, so there."
If Democrats are in power, he whines that Republicans are not being included and things "are getting so political."
I have a large crutch in my hand as I wait at the doctor's office for help with a condition my insurance may not pay for. Come over here, Senator Hatch. I'll show you "political."
!
I'm not in England, of course, but I'd like to hear from anyone who is there: is Hatch's statement not a fucking lie?
BTW...the only people with a "Cadillac plan" are those in Congress. Tell you what, Hatch: let's trade. You take my insurance, and I'll take yours. Let's see whose is better. When you need a chiropractor or your wife needs to see a cardiologist, you be sure to ring me up and let me know how it's going. I'll hold a bake sale for you.
You're pretty tight with God, I hear. Maybe he can shepherd you through the systemic nightmare my family is dealing with. Sanctimonious prick.
I think that Hatch will be looking for a proctologist. His head is so far up his ass a proctologist is his only hope and your insurance will not cover a foreign object (his head) inserted into his anus.
You can bet that Hatch will not help you with any God crap either. That is reserved only for his friends with money and you are only one of the little people..
This idoit says we have the "greatest healthcare system in the world", is he serious? So that's it to any right-wing lurkers out there, the Republican party doesn't care if you have insurance or not, because the rich people do and that's all that matters. Right Orrin?
He came in lying, and he went out lying.
Bipartisanship presumes both parties want democracy!
and MAKE them watch "Sicko" in IMAX...with THX sound.
Ha!!!!
I know Sicko has been out a long time, but there should be a movement started to watch it again and encourage others that have not seen it. I recall seeing it in a local independent theater. After the documentary, I witnessed several groups of people congregating outside the theater discussing and saying they needed to do something. Several husbands claimed their wives insisted they see the documentary despite them calling it propaganda. After the documentary, the husbands no longer held that opinion.
Pop that guy in the mouth so bad for saying that. A few weeks ago I had to go back and ask my parents for money since I didn't have enough money for food and antibiotics. My Canadian relatives never have that problem.
Greatest healthcare system in the world my ass. The U.S. health care system is about as awesome as the antibiotic shot I took in the ass last week.
I hope they do get an earful when they get home.
Rangel: President has given us a deadline. We're working under. Our committee has reported on a bill. We're waiting on the Senate to do what? DO Anything.
Isn't that the truth. Senate get your ass in gear.
Whorin Hatch like most of the rest of our government is on the take.
Taking bribes and breaking the public trust!
Here is a list of elected people taking payoffs to cheat the American people and the amounts of bribes being taken. This is just from health care and insurance.
It is mind boggling to think how much these people are taking from others!
Arlen Specter (R-D- PA- $4,026,933)
Max Baucus (DLC- MT- $2,833,731)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY- $2,758,468)
And when you just go right to Big Insurance, the non-presidential candidates who got the biggest legalized bribes were the 7 senators who have been tasked with the job of killing single-payer:
Ben Nelson (DLC-NE- $1,196,799)
Max Baucus (DLC- MT- $1,184,113)
Joe Lieberman (DLC- CT- $1,036,302)
Arlen Specter (R-D- PA- $1,035,530)
Chuck Schumer (D-NY- $981,400)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY- $929,207)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA- $884,724)
This is only a partial list and whorin is not shown on it but you can bet he got his share.
republicanism is a mental illness!
If you're a Republican, it's very simple:
We will uncover the core, the very heart of any major Democratic proposal.
We will insist that this core, this heart, be removed.
We will then toss in some of our marginal "ideas" and go along.
All the while trying to force in amendments on Guns, Gods and Gays.
There is four G's that describe the republican party.
1. God -- Their invisible friend in the sky.
2. Guns -- Allows them to be able to sleep at night.
3. Gays -- Need some group to beat up at all times.
4. Greed - The holy grail to the republican party.
Look at any objective study of major health indicators and the US is far from having the best health care system in the world. The Repubs (and blue dogs dems) love to spout this incontrovertible lie all over the place.
We DO have excellent health care if you are filthy rich, hence another right-wing talking point about world leaders coming to the US for operations is a straw man. The fact is the health insurance industry blocks access and makes costs so high that many choose to go without proper care.
--We do have excellent health care for the rich largely because our educational system here in the US. which is subsidized by our tax dollars, hence is partially SOCIALIST, is among the best in the world. Why the Dems are not fighting back harder with this type of argument is beyond sad.
care the Shah of Iran? And didn't he die anyway? Why doesn't anyone call out these liars?
who came here for "health care" was Manuel Noriega. Okay, he had just declared himself a "C.E.O."
Anyhow, he came here in 1989 for a prison sentence.
Still, you gotta admit, he's getting better "U.S. public health care" than the 50,000,000 Americans who haven't been major drug dealers etc....
Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
This would be a great new motto for the Obama Administration:
"Want quality health care paid for with tax dollars? Commit a crime! Go to prison!"
I think the King of Jordon was at the Mayo Clinic for cancer. There are probably others that we don't know about. But this whole thing misses the point. Sure there is very good health care available if yoiu can afford it and only a small percentage of Americans can afford it.
That was the whole point of what was said.
Yes I know. I just wanted to reiterate. Your point is well taken. To bad the Repubs keep blowing smoke. Fuckers.
Evidently, it's not so good. That's my point.
That I went and pulled a Charlie Whitman, it's not because I snapped, it's because I've been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Just caught Tweety with Steele on Hardball.
Tweety asks why Steele calls "Obama's plan" socialism. Steele says it's because the government is taking over the means of production in respect to health care"....
Tweety never follows up, never asks what "means of production" he's talking about...
I thought Tweety was gonna kiss him. Seems he had a tingle up his leg in that softball interview.
Probably because I'm not that smart. But I do know one thing, taxing the rich will bring a firestorm from both lobbyist and the conservatives. I want health care reform (better known as lower prices, better quality and assurance). But seriously, if not taxing the rich, where do we get the money for it? I'm not being a dick or some conservative blog plant, I'm serious. Where do we get the money? One thing I can think of is cutting. But cutting what that wont bring a firestorm of lies good enough to push Democrats out of office. The rich are going to keep there money at any cost. The only thing we can do is cut. But what? Bush spent our money in the Middle East but it's to late to worry about that.
My boss runs his own business, makes over 200,000 a year (I do the books). He is collecting a pension from PNC Bank, $1900.00 a month. He just turned 68 and plans on working for a while. I do all the work and he comes in twice a week. He's been on Medicare for a couple of years and is collecting $1200.00 a month from Social Security. He owns his house and has a savings in both IRA's and savings accounts of over $450,000.
Should he not have his Social Security Benefits lowered or used for things like universal coverage because of his wealth? Same with his Medicare? Shouldn't these benefits be for the people who need it. A person like Bernie Madoff is eligible for SS.
I am not sure but I think this is the way these people game the system. His $200,000 "income" from his company is not really income. It is capital gains. This way his income is not counted toward his SS. His $200,000 is also taxed at a much lower rate than if it was "real income." This is the same thing that the guys on Wall Street collect their income as well. In reality if you are on SS you are not suppose to make more than $XX,XXX per year to collect it. These people are scum and complain the loudest.
Self employed people pay double social security. Sounds fucked up but they do. As the employee and as the employer. His social security isn't taxed at a lower rate, just less of his income is taxed. Once he makes $106,800 his income is no longer taxed on Social Security. Social Security Wage Base is set at $106,800 this year. It increases every year.
If he is making that much money and is paying Social Security taxes on it then I don't think he is eligible to collect Social Security. I have never read the regulations but have been told by people who are on Social Security or about ready to collect it and were looking into it. It sure does not seem correct.
.
Once you reach 66 and a half you can make all the money you can and not be penalized. You do have to pay taxes on it also.
Actually, if we had a single-payer plan, we could in all likelihood have universal coverage for the same - or less - than is being spent on private insurance now.
The much-maligned Canadian system offers universal coverage for less per capita a year than the U.S. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, every single-payer system in the world provides coverage for less per capita than the U.S.
It's pretty simple. If you cut out the 10-15% profit margin, not to mention the bloated and padded administrative costs, you have a hell of a lot of money to actual pay for health care.
or it could be love. He is the perfect encapsulation of the Republican minority in America. He symbolizes their lies, their violence, their hate, their greed, their corruption and their unfortunate hold over America. He defines American domestic and foreign policy for at least the past 28 years. These policies are directly responsible for both our current domestic and foreign state of affairs. These polices that enriched their friends and the death or enslavement of their enemies also destroyed America. Two perfect examples of the death knell: Obama nominated a jurist who the Republicans decried as a liberal activist, and yet she held up Scalia as a role-model. Two, when Obama's health care bill is passed it won't change a thing. The insurance companies and big Pharma will continue their choke-hold on health care. It's like the story today on Crooks and Liars about the sub-prime mortgage brokers who ripped off millions of people and billions of dollars were allowed to reinvent themselves as mortgage reclamation specialists. Not only were they permitted to perpetuate their scams but they do so with impunity. Did anyone notice that in little ol' Peru they imprisoned their former President for 7.5 years? That would be acceptable here so long as it included fines in the billions.
Login or Register to post comments.