Let's hope 'they' don't pass JUST ANY BILL! Pelosi and Reid are determined to pass something, anything, before the new Massachusetts Senator takes his seat. This means at ANY COST and at OUR EXPENSE! Please understand, I want health care reform. Nevertheless, I don't want the piece of sh*t bills drafted in the Senate and Congress that are currently on the table. This is SO NOT COOL! I will be SUPER PISSED OFF if they cram anything out of SHEER DESPERATION so they can CLAIM a victory! Victory for whom? Most definitely NOT the American people.
They claim that 30 million Americans are without health care right now. Okay, the US Census Bureau reports there are 307 million Americans today. That would mean roughly 10% of the American population are without health care. Are you following me? Well, both the House and Senate bills admit that ONLY 94% of the American population will be covered leaving 6% without coverage. Hhmm... let us do the math please. 10% - 6% = 4%. Are you following me? These two bills they're about to toss a coin in the air to pick which one they'll pass WILL ONLY HELP 4% of the 10% that do not have or are unable to obtain coverage! LEAVING 6% WITHOUT ANY COVERAGE! That's roughly 20 MILLION Americans that will STILL be left UNINSURED. Why couldn't our government draft a bill that would explicity help the 10% of our population that needs help? But I suppose that would be TOO EASY! Our government likes to COMPLICATE EVERYTHING!
How the heck is that SOLVING THE FRICKEN PROBLEM! Meanwhile, the LAWS affecting our coverage will change dramatically. Those of us with coverage will be TAXED up the wazoo! Not to mention, the entire nation will be FORCED to purchase health care coverage! That is what a mandate means: FORCED! Both the bills currently on the table STATE that if you DO NOT REPORT ACCEPTABLE health care COVERAGE TO THE IRS, you will be FINED and if you DO NOT PAY THE FINE, you will be sent to PRISON! No fricken joke! Is this the health care reform you asked for or even imagined???
The American people deserve better than this. No, let me re-phrase that. The American people deserve THE BEST and not some half-ass piece of legislation. That is precisely what we should be DEMANDING from Washington Officials! Just take a good look at how our government run Foster Care System has grossly FAILED our orphaned children in America! These foster care children are OUR FUTURE! Just take a good look at how our government run Medicaid program has grossly FAILED our low-income and poor American families! Just take a good look at how our the Federal government has grossly FAILED our Veterans. Don't you think the BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars that our government has spent on EARMARKS should have been spent to improve on these FAILED programs?! Don't you agree that this would be taxpayer money well spent, instead of wasting our taxpayer money on special interest EARMARKS that Americans DO NOT benefit from ONLY the politicians?!
DISCLAIMER: I was a Democrat my entire life. I have recently changed my political party affiliation and am now registered as an INDEPENDENT. I have been part of the Tea Party Movement since its inception. Why? Well simply because I am sick and tired of Washington Officials both Republicans and Democrats, pulling a fast one on the American people spending our taxpayer money recklessly and irresponsibly. I felt the outcry deep down in my spirit that began last year, "NO MORE TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!" I am not white and oh yes I am educated. MSNBC and CNN would have you believe that I am a right-wing vile rabid uneducated white Republican. Well guess what? I MOST DEFINITELY AM NOT ANY OF THOSE THINGS!
If that description of a Tea Party Freedom Loving American made up of Independents, Democrats and Republicans isn't bad enough, MSNBC and CNN anchors began calling me at "Tea Bagger". I honestly had no fricken idea what that term meant. I had to look it up. "Tea Bagging" is a term that literally means when a man hangs his testicles onto the head, face or inside the mouth of their sexual partner. Wow! So now I am a man and I have testicles because I am questioning government policies? Isn't it bad enough that our government will soon have us ALL bending over very soon like a good citizen should. Now these a-holes want us to SQUAT TOO! Screw you! We, the TAXPAYERS pay for politicians salaries, best health care benefits and expense accounts! THEY WORK FOR US! You bet your ass I am going to hold them accountable both democrats and republicans alike! I intend to continue doing my part in PREVENTING Americans from being VIOLATED by Washington officials. At least I am one in 307 MILLION Americans that is paying attention to these policies that will affect ALL OF US. I do my research, read the bills and DON'T just take your word for it. Way to go MSNBC and CNN for being a shining example for future generations [/sarcasm].
How the heck is that SOLVING THE FRICKEN PROBLEM! Meanwhile, the LAWS affecting our coverage will change dramatically. Those of us with coverage will be TAXED up the wazoo! Not to mention, the entire nation will be FORCED to purchase health care coverage! That is what a mandate means: FORCED! Both the bills currently on the table STATE that if you DO NOT REPORT ACCEPTABLE health care COVERAGE TO THE IRS, you will be FINED and if you DO NOT PAY THE FINE, you will be sent to PRISON! No fricken joke! Is this the health care reform you asked for or even imagined???
The American people deserve better than this. No, let me re-phrase that. The American people deserve THE BEST and not some half-ass piece of legislation. That is precisely what we should be DEMANDING from Washington Officials! Just take a good look at how our government run Foster Care System has grossly FAILED our orphaned children in America! These foster care children are OUR FUTURE! Just take a good look at how our government run Medicaid program has grossly FAILED our low-income and poor American families! Just take a good look at how our the Federal government has grossly FAILED our Veterans. Don't you think the BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars that our government has spent on EARMARKS should have been spent to improve on these FAILED programs?! Don't you agree that this would be taxpayer money well spent, instead of wasting our taxpayer money on special interest EARMARKS that Americans DO NOT benefit from ONLY the politicians?!
DISCLAIMER: I was a Democrat my entire life. I have recently changed my political party affiliation and am now registered as an INDEPENDENT. I have been part of the Tea Party Movement since its inception. Why? Well simply because I am sick and tired of Washington Officials both Republicans and Democrats, pulling a fast one on the American people spending our taxpayer money recklessly and irresponsibly. I felt the outcry deep down in my spirit that began last year, "NO MORE TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!" I am not white and oh yes I am educated. MSNBC and CNN would have you believe that I am a right-wing vile rabid uneducated white Republican. Well guess what? I MOST DEFINITELY AM NOT ANY OF THOSE THINGS!
If that description of a Tea Party Freedom Loving American made up of Independents, Democrats and Republicans isn't bad enough, MSNBC and CNN anchors began calling me at "Tea Bagger". I honestly had no fricken idea what that term meant. I had to look it up. "Tea Bagging" is a term that literally means when a man hangs his testicles onto the head, face or inside the mouth of their sexual partner. Wow! So now I am a man and I have testicles because I am questioning government policies? Isn't it bad enough that our government will soon have us ALL bending over very soon like a good citizen should. Now these a-holes want us to SQUAT TOO! Screw you! We, the TAXPAYERS pay for politicians salaries, best health care benefits and expense accounts! THEY WORK FOR US! You bet your ass I am going to hold them accountable both democrats and republicans alike! I intend to continue doing my part in PREVENTING Americans from being VIOLATED by Washington officials. At least I am one in 307 MILLION Americans that is paying attention to these policies that will affect ALL OF US. I do my research, read the bills and DON'T just take your word for it. Way to go MSNBC and CNN for being a shining example for future generations [/sarcasm].
***********************************************************
OpenCongress
written by Donny Shaw
Monday January 18, 2010
The final polls for Massachusetts’special Senate election on Tuesday are rolling in, and it’s looking like a total toss-up. That means the focus of the health care reform effort in Congress now turns for the moment to what happens if Democrat Marths Coakley loses, giving the Republicans 41 seats and enough votes to effectively filibuster the final bill against the wishes of the Democrats’ then 59-seat majority.
Tuesdays’s election results will certainly be viewed as a referendum on Congress’ health care bill. But even if the Republican candidate wins and the Democrats no longer hold a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, there will still be at least two realistic options for the health care bill to make it through Congress and be signed into law.
1) The House could just accept the Senate’s bill. The Senate and the House have to pass the exact same version of the bill, word-for-word, before President Obama can sign it into law. If the Republicans win on Tuesday, the easiest way to do that would likely be for the Democrats to forgo blending the House and Senate bills and just have the House vote to pass the Senate’s bill. That way the Senate wouldn’t have to take any more votes on health care. A lot of progressives in the House would not be happy with this approach since the Senate bill is weaker in some key areas, but, in the end, they would likely figure that the Senate bill is better than no bill at all and go along with it. This could happen quickly after a defeat for the Democrats on Tuesday, allowing them to claim a bigger victory in enacting the biggest overhaul of the country’s ailing health care system in more than 60 years.
As an addendum to this approach, Congress could follow up before the bill takes effect in 2013 and pass improvements to it separately. Some of the things the House-Senate negotiators have been working on over the past few weeks would make sense for this. For example, further expanding Medicaid, shortening the patent exclusivity period for biologics, increasing subsidies for helping the middle class afford insurance policies and eliminating the health insurance industry’s exemption form federal anti-trust laws could all be done later this year or in the next session of Congress.
2) They could use budget reconciliation. This is the approach progressive Democrats would likely favor if the Republicans win in MA on Tuesday. Theoretically, the budget reconciliation process would let the Democrats pass health care reform without being subject to Republican filibusters in the Senate. But it would also be wildly unpredictable, yielding a lot of the big decisions about the bill’s contents to the Senate Parliamentarian, a resident rules expert and not an elected lawmaker.
The budget reconciliation process allows for any legislation that is determined (by the Parliamentarian) to have an impact on the federal budget deficit to come to a final vote in the Senate after a maximum of 20 hours of debate. That means that the minority party cannot filibuster beyond 20 hours, and that the legislation would need a simple majority of 51 votes in favor to pass (not the 60 that it takes to break a filibuster). The Democrats would have to thoroughly re-work their bill in order to make it eligible for budget reconciliation. And even then, the Parliamentarian can strip pick pieces out of the bill and determine them to be ineligible for the process. The resulting bill would likely be stronger in some key areas that are favored by progressives — for example, any bill that goes through budget reconciliation would probably have a strong public option — but would lack some other important aspects, like the ban on insurance companies denying customers based on pre-existing medical conditions. Some of the things that get plucked out of the bill by the Parliamentarian could be passed later as separate pieces of legislation, but there’s no guarantee that the Republicans, who have voted against health care reform all along the way, would let the Democrats do that.
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