The Republicans Finally Put A Plan On Paper: How To Use The Rules To Obstruct Health-Care Reform
Steve Benen with the story about the Republican plan to obstruct health-care reform:
We learned yesterday that Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has distributed a three-page memo to his Republican colleagues, reminding them of various procedural tactics they can utilize to obstruct, delay, and undermine the debate on health care. Sam Stein called it "the equivalent of an obstruction manual -- a how-to for holding up health care reform."
This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) seized on the document: "The good news is that Senate Republicans finally, at long last, have put a detailed plan down on paper. The bad news is that it's not, as we'd hoped, a plan to make health care insurance more affordable; it's not one to make health insurance companies more accountable; and it's certainly not a plan to reverse rapidly rising health care costs and draw down our deficit.
"The Republican plan we've waited weeks and months to see ... [is] not even about health care at all. The first and only plan Senate Republicans could be bothered to write up is an instructional manual on how to bring the Senate to a screeching halt. We knew that was happening anyway, but they had the audacity to put it in writing."
The Democrats are finally starting to take a look at changing procedural rules.
Never mind. I hear the memo is so long it's in book form. In other words: it has a spine.
Dems wouldn't know what to do with it.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Dems. Or Progressive Dems, just launch a real third party once and for all.
the Republicenabling Party
They'll claim it never happened.
And when the document is waved under their nose
That it's a liberal trick to make them look bad.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
A guy with downs syndrome singing karaoke last night at my local casino has more charisma than Harry Reid.
Is it any wonder this bill is in shambles?
Want to remind you again that the pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering. Please up tempo this urgent matter. And don't forget your performance review is coming up in January. Time is of the essence Judd.
(R) stands for ridiculous.
Do nothing, Douche-o-crats.
There is no way the Republicans can bring the Senate to a screeching halt without Democratic assistance.
Either stop pretending the Democratic caucus has sixty Senators or act like a real live Majority Leader and enforce some party discipline.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
The same Judd Gregg that Obama reached out to to be a part of his administration in an effort to be "bi-partisan"? How's that bi-partisanship working out for you O?
20 of which were retreads from past administrations going as far back as to the days of Nixon and company to "join the Hope team".
I guess Judd still has prove to his buddies that he can pass a purity test.
is intended to be a factual statement
We'll hike premiums so we lose customers. That will keep the bottom line healthy and reverse the downward trend of our profit margin.
When republicans start acting sensibly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icHpAJRfzWo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLtR8_qw_yM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The Republicans don't need to worry about stopping health care reform, the Democrats are not proposing health care reform.
They are only proposing the appearance of health care reform, the Republicans don't want that either.
Unless it were their plan. The current Democratic plan is less progressive than Richard Nixon's plan way back when.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Word.
.
... to the Democrat's appearance of health care reform.
Hmmm....
Corruption favors the wealthy.
One thing is for sure: in the end there won't be meaningful health insurance reform.
They may try to extend the play for a few acts, but I say skip it... the acting is really bad, the production quality non-existent, and the plot does not have any redeeming lines. Plus the end is totally predictable...
... end with the honorable warrior committing seppuku for their lapse of honor?
Nah. Never happen.
.
Obama can claim victory and move on to the next capitulation.
I've said all along that it will end up like the energy policy that Big Oil helped put together. The only thing that it has achived is higher costs for anything related to energy. HCR shall go the same route.
~
Corruption favors the wealthy.
There first plan was don't get sick and if you do die quickly.
That's my current health care plan and doesn't look like that is going to change much.
You have to pray to an invisible god, so that an invisible hand can find a market-based solution to your illness. Somehow... it is all very complex, and a miracle when it does work. Which is what makes it so special and memorable!
paper as toilet paper.
..Health CARE Reform. It should have been called Health Insurance Reform and that's been said. What's also been said here and elsewhere, the Dems are the majority party and Reid should keep the party in line in order to get things done. AND, every, every single Democrat running for office should wave that rape-publican't document at every campaign speech and let the electorate know what they are expelling from Congress or elsewhere. Anyone running against one of the thirty rape-publican'ts who voted against Sen. Franken's bill also.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
to busy doing deals with Republicans who are trying to destroy him, and the very predatory industries that are precisely the problem with American healthcare.
Sad to say it.
Make no mistake about it, health care reform is needed.
But in the payment of health care, no advanced country allows for-profit health insurance, there should be no use of that term at all.
Switzerland has a universal system with private payers that are not for profit.
The conflict of interest in for-profit health care payment is unconscionable.
The current plan extends and subsidizes it.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
and they are very tight on who is permitted to become a Swiss Citizen.
Here in the USA everyone wants cheap stuff-crap that's a big part of the problem.
corporations to sell health insurance. It is this: Corporations have a legal obligation to make profits for their shareholders. They have no legal obligations other than that one. They cannot be held responsible for anything they do unless they do NOT make a profit for their shareholders. If you ever see an officer of a corporation being punished for malfeasance, it will likely be for ripping off the corporation itself. Thus, to not squeeze every possible penny from consumers of the products or services they produce is malfeasance and illegal. They must maximize profits. A loophole that exists is that salaries and bonuses are paid out before shareholders get paid. Shareholders get screwed, too, just not enough for them to complain.
Sure, in exchange for mandatory insurance they give up their "pre-existing condition" method of denying claims or coverage.
But that's hardly the only item in the Insurance Bag of Tricks. Anyone ever look at a health insurance policy? Probably not, for all but a few. They guard them ferociously. But they are filled with reasons not to pay claims.
And then of course there is always the insurance carriers' old standby: We're not paying; screw you; sue us. Because we are still limited from suing them for consequential damages (e.g. death resulting from non-treatment) the best we can even hope for is getting the cost of the service they denied, less attorneys' fees. They literally have nothing to risk other than litigation costs which are far cheaper for them than for us.
People forget that, aside from the first few minutes of the film, Michael Moore's Sicko examined the problems of people who supposedly had insurance.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
And now naturally in fine GOP form they are actually blaming Franken for "going after them" by tabling the bill in the first place.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
... Harry Reid picks it up, shakes his head, says, 'You dropped the ball, dude.'
AND HANDS IT BACK TO THEM.
Oh, yeah ... and Obama wanted this clown as Commerce Secretary?
Can we just dispense with the charade, now? You're all a bunch of thieves, covering each other's asses or trying to get the other guy nicked by the cops.
The only thing more aggravating than this unheard of level of obstruction from the GOP is well...that as far as the mainstream media is concerned,it's "unheard of".
Would it kill CNN for instance to maybe mention it in passing?
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
marching orders. I can't stress this enough this country is now a Corporate State.
Now, how to we take back this country from this kind of tyranny. THAT is the big question.
Especially when the system is now such that you have to be a corporate whore/plutocrat to run for public office.
They always say they're just like us. We, sadly, believe them. The truth is, they're nothing like us. They make more than most Americans earn in a year. They're dictating health care policy that will seriously impact us - but not them.
Oh, you worked hard to get where you are, Congressslime? I bet it must have been some heavy lifting hauling around all those bribes, yes, indeed.
nothing to see here move along now.
The intensity and belligerence of GOP obstructionism right now is off the charts yet somehow,CNN can't quite seem to find a story in any of this.WTF? Look Blitzer-ask one of these GOP coprophagists what the Christ they think they're doing and if they have even a shred of respect for the millions of Americans who propelled the Democrats into office,whose votes they are now rendering null and void by their disgusting actions.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
TIGER WOODS!
THE SALAHIS!
DESIREE ROGERS!
/snark
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/golfd...
or the bizzaro humor of it.
I'm shocked...SHOCKED!!!....oh...never mind.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
republicans have gone insane.At first I thought it was just the leadership, but after the last eight years it is abundantly clear that the whole party is off it's rocker!
I never believed that anyone would be stupid enough to vote for another bush after the single term of king george the first.
But you can never underestimate the hatred and stupidity of the conservative/christian voter. I am not sure how they claim religion with the shit they do but I guess when you are fucking crazy to start with the details don't matter.
republicans have made me ashamed of 25% of America! And have and do prove what I have been saying for a while now, republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness that is killing America!
They've been going that way for a loooooooooong time.
And they stick to the same old playbook because it works. Drum up fear of change, anything that challenges good ol' conservative values, then take their payoffs and laugh themselves silly at how stupid Americans are.
"Hahahahahaha! Stupid peasants think they have a CHOICE! Haahahahahahaha!"
Is it from their bathrooms?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Read my post at 10:26.
If the Democrats were smart. They would have one of their large doners erect a countup clock that shows a running total of how many Americans die each hour due to lack of healthcare.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Listening to the Republicans whine about how they are being singled out would be well worth the price of the endeavor.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
as much as the fact that they assume we are all dumb.
WTF was Obama thinking when he offered Gregg a cabinet position?
And get a Democrat from New Hampshire to take his seat. I don't fault Obama for that. The strategy worked in the upstate NY House race with a little help from Palin, Armey and the teabaggers.
Senator Sanders Offers Medicare-for-All Amendment in Senate
Senator Bernie Sanders !!
.. only wish we had a whole lot more like you ..
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
But then there is the GOP plan.
Both closer to godliness and less expensive.
Pray you don't get sick.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
The inalienable American right to be stupid about health insurance.
The Democrats are finally starting to take a look at changing procedural rules.
But only if Lieberman lets them.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
The Republicans are not acting in good faith. They know they are toast. The media is way behind the curve on Republicans - they're old friends.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
THESE are the folks you talk about working with and reaching out to.
The F'ers have all but destroyed this country and they are not done trying to finish the job . Treasonous saboteurs , they should all be put in front of a firing squad .
Gregg's obstructionist manifesto wouldn't need to be heeded at all if it weren't for conservative Democrats like Lincoln, Lieberman and Ben Nelson helping to block our agenda.
The majority of the Senate supports a public option. They really need to change the Senate rules or nothing will get done. Chimpy never had the majority in either house of Congress that Obama has now and these same hypocrite repugs screamed bloody murder whenever we blocked a few of their cretinous right wing judges. Not to mention, they used reconciliation when they saw fit. Since the repugs have nothing to contribute, change the rules and take them out of the way.
Next election All republicans should be thrown out of office. They are racist and are doing all they can not to get President Obama get anything archieved. They mostly are against anything he will do. I am so glad that those bastard has been against Al frankon bill they had never read because that bill was against Black Water was stopping woman to sue for rape. That prove that the Repus are racist.
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