Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Joe Walsh]

They must love death panels, higher rates, and unnecessary coverage. How shocking!

[Old Man]

Now, now, be nice.  They have to fund their tax breaks for the wealthy somehow.

[Lord Liaden]

I don't even know how much of the Republican agenda is based on any sort of reasoning. I sense a strong, "If the Democrats did it it must be bad" knee-jerk from many of them.

[Joe Walsh]

I don't even know how much of the Republican agenda is based on any sort of reasoning. I sense a strong, "If the Democrats did it it must be bad" knee-jerk from many of them.

 

That and, "If it helps billionaires, it must be good."

[Armitage]

Trump and the Republicans are talking about press conferences and celebrations.  Given how little Trump knows about how the government actually works, I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks that it's done, and he's expecting to sign it into law as soon as they can get it to his desk.

"What do you mean that the Senate has to approve it?  Everyone kept talking about needing to get enough House votes.  We did that.  What does the Senate have to do with that?"

 

And the Senate has already decided to create their own legislation anyway.

[Iuz the Evil]

Hah. "It's now up to us to craft a bill 51 Senators can agree on"

 

...not so fast. 51? Maybe just go for 60, cut out the inevitable filibuster

 

"transition Medicaid’s financing to a “per capita allotment” model starting in 2020, where per-enrollee limits would be imposed on federal payments to states."

 

So Medicaid caps essentially. No more entitlement? Yikes, that'll be rough on Foster kids among others. Essentially caps their benefit.

 

This is going to be astonishing in it's implosion. At least I'm in California, going to get pretty expensive out here with the state already dancing around back filling this stuff and challenging elements in court (specific to Federal entitlement and obligations to fully fund them, among other things).

[Ranxerox]

Hah. "It's now up to us to craft a bill 51 Senators can agree on"

 

...not so fast. 51? Maybe just go for 60, cut out the inevitable filibuster

Nope, it needs 50 votes. If they can scrounge up 50 votes, Pence can cast the tie breaker.  Also, no filibuster.  They are using the same end run around the filibuster that the Dems used to pass the ACA in the first place.  Still, 50 is a pretty high bar to clear given how slim the Republican majority is and the extreme controversy surrounding the bill.  I, for one,  am hoping that they fail miserably at reaching it.

[Iuz the Evil]

Man, that is just depressing. Oh well, time for the dying in the streets to begin. Jesus.

 

ACA was nice while it lasted, on the plus side it's going to be amazingly painful to the very demographic that supported these idiots. So it will be interesting to see if they can make the connection.

 

Edit: given the date, I should've gone with this: https://youtu.be/Pw2sex1mJNI

[DasBroot]

We'll see how many realise that ACA and "Obamacare" are the same thing.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Evidently, the current administration believes that the quotient of human suffering in the world is not nearly high enough....

[aylwin13]

Evidently, the current administration believes that the quotient of human suffering in the world is not nearly high enough....

 

Nor the bottom lines of the health insurance companies.

[Old Man]

Not even insurance companies want(ed) Obamacare repealed

 

The effect of legislative uncertainty on the insurance business which is based entirely on gauging risk

[csyphrett]

Nope, it needs 50 votes. If they can scrounge up 50 votes, Pence can cast the tie breaker.  Also, no filibuster.  They are using the same end run around the filibuster that the Dems used to pass the ACA in the first place.  Still, 50 is a pretty high bar to clear given how slim the Republican majority is and the extreme controversy surrounding the bill.  I, for one,  am hoping that they fail miserably at reaching it.

It might be too late to use reconciliation.  That only had a small window and once it's gone, it's gone. It might have been done when they wrote the budget for the year.

CES

[Ranxerox]

It might be too late to use reconciliation.  That only had a small window and once it's gone, it's gone. It might have been done when they wrote the budget for the year.

CES

 

I hope you are right.

[DShomshak]

Seattle's public radio station KUOW has a weekly program in which local journalists and assorted People Of Interest discuss the national and local news. Former Washington State Republican Party chairman Chris Vance is a frequent guest to present the Not A Seattle Liberal perspective.

 

Vance was a guest yesterday. Here, as closely as I can recall his words, is his gobsmacked assessment of the Trumpcare bill just passed.

 

"So, every expert who's looked at this says it will drastically jack up health insurance premiums for older people, likely pushing it out of reach for millions of seniors with lower income. Who are the most active voting block in the country, and include a large portion of the Republican base. That's just genius."

 

This is a Republican, mind you.

 

Vance thinks the only way this turkey could have passed is that large numbers of Republicans in Congress want to win more than they want to govern. And possibly they want to undo anything Obama did more than they want to win: He thinks that if this bill makes it to law in anything remotely resembling its current form, it's electoral suicide.

 

(Incidentally, a running joke on the program is that each time the host introduces Vance, he asks, "Are you still a Republican?" And Vance responds with something like, "It's getting harder.")

 

Dean Shomshak
 

[Lord Liaden]

It's possible to be define oneself as a Republican or Democrat, to be socially and/or economically conservative or liberal, and still be a reasonable, thoughtful person. But such people seem to have become scarce on Capitol Hill.

[Michael Hopcroft]

It's possible to be define oneself as a Republican or Democrat, to be socially and/or economically conservative or liberal, and still be a reasonable, thoughtful person. But such people seem to have become scarce on Capitol Hill.

That's because candidates are defining themselves as Whizzo Butter. Buy Whizzo Butter, and you will go to Heaven. It's irrelevant that it's indistinguishable from a dead crab. Heaven!

[megaplayboy]

They need to pass something by the end of May to bypass reconciliation. Otherwise it goes to next year. A tight Senate vote on an unpopular bill isn't something they want hung around their necks.

[Pariah]

So, apparently the French are smarter than we are now.

[Doc Shadow]

Right now the whole fracking world is smarter than us.

[Pariah]

Even the other countries that are fracking?

 

Or is that just us?

[Doc Shadow]

Even the other countries that are fracking?

 

Or is that just us?

 

[Joe Walsh]

The oil market's pretty interesting to me right now.  OPEC is trying to boost prices by cutting supply, but we're boosting supply enough to not only counter their moves, but to make prices drop. As someone who remembers the oil crisis of the 70s, it's pretty amazing to me that we can do that. (Saudi Arabia and Russia each produce about 10.5 million barrels per day, while we're at 9.3 million barrels per day and rising. The US is the third biggest oil producer in the world!)

 

I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing overall. Just that it sort of blows my mind when I step back and think about it in context.

[Pariah]

Even the other countries that are fracking?

 

Or is that just us?

 

 

That's fair.

[Pariah]

The oil market's pretty interesting to me right now.  OPEC is trying to boost prices by cutting supply, but we're boosting supply enough to not only counter their moves, but to make prices drop. As someone who remembers the oil crisis of the 70s, it's pretty amazing to me that we can do that. (Saudi Arabia and Russia each produce about 10.5 million barrels per day, while we're at 9.3 million barrels per day and rising. The US is the third biggest oil producer in the world!)

 

I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing overall. Just that it sort of blows my mind when I step back and think about it in context.

 

I've long felt that energy independence should be one of our highest national priorities. Our biggest weakness right now, aside from our current leadership issues, is our ridiculous dependence on hostile foreign governments.*  How much money do we send each year to countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Venezuela for energy?  Screw that.

 

The problem, at least as I see it, is that energy independence requires both sides of the political aisle to agree to do some things that neither will do.  It will, at least in the short term, require more drilling here at home.  The Democrats are never going to go for that.  It will also require a substantial investment into renewable energy technologies. The Republicans are never going to go for that.  And nuclear power is probably going to have to be a part of any long-term solution as well. Nobody's going to go for that.

 

So we will continue to pay other countries to solve our energy problems, because we don't have the will to do it ourselves.  Make no mistake, we have the resources. We just won't use them.

 

 

--

* Our unpayable debt to China is, of course, an even bigger problem, but that's a discussion for another day.