Now Pelosi is nervous about HCR in the House. Phone your Representatives as well.
Oy Vey
by Tim F| 29 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Oy Vey
Reader Interactions
29Comments
Comments are closed.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.
When I was faster i was always behind.
I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.
The worst democrat is better than the best republican.
They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.
Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.
Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.
Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.
“But what about the lurkers?”
“I was told there would be no fact checking.”
“woke” is the new caravan.
Republicans in disarray!
Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.
Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.
Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.
Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.
Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.
We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.
Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.
This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.
Mike Kay
And to think there are hippies out there who still love Kucinich.
BTD
Everyone should be nervous.
To be honest though, I think this is prudent posturing by Pelosi for bargaining purposes.
I think the biggest obstacle was the excuse tax and I think Obama’s fix makes it ok for the unions and the Dems in the House.
Is Pelsoi angling for more? Probably.
Another compromise that may be necessary which is abhorrent is some kind of promise to Stupak that his provision will be given a chance in a later one off bill that will be voted on by the Senate. Can it pass the Senate? No, but Stupak might be placated by that.
The national exchanges is another issue, but frankly, I am not sure how that can be passed through reconciliation and more importantly, I doubt there are 50 votes for it in Senate.
Would be nice for Pelosi to have Wexler and Murtha of course.
ellaesther
Oy vey indeed.
geg6
This is nothing but political posturing. All she has said is that the Senate bill doesn’t have the votes as it stands. Which is what she’s been saying for weeks and weeks.
gbear
@geg6:
I think I’ll call my congressperson anyway.
cahuenga
Somebody, anybody, please explain this statement from the White House website:
Families below $44,000 and above $66,000 would pay less in premiums
WTF?
Comrade Jake
I don’t know folks. The margin in the House looks pretty fucking thin.
Comrade Jake
It will be mildly entertaining, however, if it ends up passing through the House due to Rahm’s efforts and actions in the coming weeks.
I assume that would only continue to infuriate the Jane Hamshers of the left.
jenniebee
Pelosi’s playing this a hell of a lot smarter than Baucus did. Baucus’ play last summer really looked like he wanted the thing dead without having to say “no” to it himself. If that wasn’t what he was trying for, he’s not terribly bright, and if it is what he was trying for he’s not terribly in touch.
Called my Rep, Bobby Scott, and gave him some love.
BTW, is it just me, or did the Scott Brown election give us a second bite at the apple?
Mike Kay
@Comrade Jake:
The Firebaggers hate both the House and Senate bill. They hate the House bill because the public option in the bill is small. They really believe no bill is better. Of course, they all have health insurance.
fasteddie9318
Also too, fuck Dennis Kucinich.
drlemur
I got to speak to my Rep Jan Schakowsky this morning in person and told her to pass the damn bill. Also, spend some more stimulus money already.
She received it very warmly and flew off to Wash DC to work on it. :)
mr. whipple
I’ve known all along he’d vote against it. He was as bad as any blue dog critiquing the bill, but coming from the other side; i.e. this is just a huge giveaway to insurance by a Congress beholden to them.
He’s the master of the pointless, empty gesture. F him.
Corner Stone
@Comrade Jake:
What does he have lined up?
John S.
I still don’t know what the fuck Wexler was thinking. I really don’t.
I have been proud to have him represent my district for a long time, but his sudden departure at a very poor time really makes me wonder what the real reason was.
To pull up stakes in the middle of HCR with a razor thin margin in the House to go work for a Middle Eastern think tank is just odd.
gizmo
Over at Americablog, John Aravosis asks a good question:
Is the GOP healthcare plan online yet?
Elie
Just called Rick Larson (state of WA) to voice my support and confirm his (yes).
Sorry I havent been around BJ much lately — working my tail off but have been lurking to read and keep up —
Hello to all of you!
IM
I am pretty sure that the demographics of Balloon Juice and Firedoglake readers look very similar. Including the proportion of people with or without health insurance.
vheidi
Called Rep Yvette Clarke, staffer said she’s not on board. PTDB, sez I.
mcc
I think it is worth it, when making PTDB calls, to specifically ask if the congressperson supports the White House plan.
The fact we do have a specific white house plan and there are democratic leadership members endorsing it is I think a good way to nail reps to the wall who might otherwise want to weasel out of answering.
Give me a minute and I’ll update the spreadsheet btw…
tatere
So who are the No votes on the original House bill who will flip to Yes this time around? They’re already down two from people leaving the House, and Stupak has said he will not vote for it with the Senate abortion language unchanged. That’s the entire winning margin.
People love to focus on nothing but dehumanizing the dirty hippies who just won’t Get Real with their hippie liberalism (I paraphrase), but it’s been the coathanger crowd who have been and still are the biggest obstacle in the House. And now the “Susan B. Anthony’s List” (talk about chutzpah, what a name) is whipping against the White House proposal.
It looks like it’s down to Pelosi. (And I’m sure she’s thinking, “Again. Of course.”….)
Chris Gerrib
I called both Senators (Durbin and Burris) and asked them to pass the bill (with public option) and called my Congressman (Peter Roskam – Republican) and asked that he support the President’s plan.
mcc
@tatere: There were reports when the bill passed the first time that it wasn’t actually quite as close as it looked and Pelosi was practicing “catch and release”. Also frankly won’t the absence of a public option will make the bill an easier sell with some blue dogs?
And opposing health care reform isn’t “hippie liberalism”. It’s Republican obstructionism.
Ailuridae
@Mike Kay:
I think you’re mistaken. I think many firebaggers are actually eligible for Medicaid but they realize without the public option health care is toothless and will be ineffective. They are against the bill out of principle and against their own self-interest.
IM
@mcc, tatere:
The democratic congressman from Idaho has declared he couldn’t vote for the House bill, but would vote for a bill like the senate bill. So he is a possible yes vote now. There may be other no votes back then who would now support a bill without a public option.
tatere
@mcc: Yeah, that’s my hope, that she gave some free passes to vote No that she can call back.
chopper
@vheidi:
that’s funny, when i called last week i got the run around from the staff. ‘well, she’s concerned etc etc’. i still said PTDB.
slightly_peeved
I think this was the Democratic plan:
(a) If they can get 60 votes, pass what they can with 60 votes.
(b) If they can pass something the party is happy with with 60 votes, leave it there.
(c) If they can’t, get a framework done with 60 and make the necessary tweaks with 50 in the reconcilliation process.
(d) to make sure (c) works, DO NOT TELL LIEBERMAN OR NELSON that (c) is part of the plan. Stay very quiet on (c) until after (a) occurs.
If the White House had made a big deal about using reconciliation or splitting the bill before the gang of retards voted on it, they would have thrown a shitfit and asked for far more concessions. Given they had two ways of getting law passed, but one would have severely hampered the other, it made sense for them to do everything they could one way before trying the other way. I think if Brown had not been elected, they may have used reconcilliation in response to particular issues or complaints with the final bill.
mcc
It actually does sound like the white house plan, if it’s passed as proposed (though they haven’t released the full text) will be better than the compromise we would have got had scott brown been elected (the excise tax is implemented in a much smarter and gentler way and there’s this rate increase board thing).