First thing, tonight, enjoy it.
If you like to partake in a recreational, legal intoxicant, enjoy one in moderation.
And then tomorrow get back on the phone and get back to pressuring the Senate.
New goal: Consensus on plan by Friday, score over break & vote on Obamacare repeal following week – @burgessev & me https://t.co/p3DiCHVKH2
— Jennifer Haberkorn (@jenhab) June 27, 2017
The current Republican plan is to see what Senate Majority Leader can do to make the bill worse while giving non-Tea Party Republican hold-outs visible media wins with carve out cash and plus-ups for visible priorities. The plan is for him to release $20 billion dollars to opioid treatment so Senators Moore and Portman can claim a victory. He’ll authorize a plus-up for Medicaid reimbursement for Alaska and Montana and Idaho for $5 billion dollars. It will be the saddest show of an old man making it rain to buy attention for himself.
And then they’ll try to jam the bill through once they get back from the 4th of July recess.
So keep on calling tomorrow.
Baud
Can we start sucking each other’s dicks again?
satby
@Baud: unfair to those of us without dicks.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Dick-sucking may be both recreational and legal, but it’s not all that intoxicating. Sorry.
Villago Delenda Est
I won’t be fully satisfied until McConnell is lying on his back, in the hot baking sun, and the Voight-Kampff folks are having so much fun it will make you’re head spin.
Hunter Gathers
You gotta figure Maine’s carve-out is going to be what, 10 billion? Will it satisfy America’s Concern Troll?
SiubhanDuinne
All joking aside, this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
so the fourth of July recess is basically a long weekend?
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Senator Perdue who is pro-life (haha) was CEO for Dollar General who pad their employees minimum wage is against the bill. Once again, tell me what pro-life means. I hate these people.
Omnes Omnibus
Why limit us to one, you abstemious killjoy?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Depends on if you’re on the business end of things or the receiving end.
raven
@JPL: Against what bill?
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s a real long weekend. I think they come back on the tenth.
JPL
@raven: haha.. He’s not against the bill. Thanks. He’d rather take health care away.
He’s against Obamacare
raven
@JPL: Whew, I was wondering!
p.a.
This blog is really going downhill. Thank you!
TenguPhule
@Baud:
We won’t judge you.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
Spoilsport.
mai naem mobile
My Sunday started with an asshole driving a truck with a ‘Suck it Up Buttercup,Dolt is President’ bumpersticker Did I say it looked like he appeared to be driving towards a white trash part of town. I don’t ever remember seeing any kind of bumper sticker like that in 09 with Obamas name on it. Oh,wait, maybe because Obama was actually busy putting the economy back together and working on getting people healh care instead of tweeting and whining about 43 and McCain. Fuckers
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
I hate these assholes. As long as they get big media “wins” then it’s ok to vote for a shitburger that will kill thousands and drive many more into crushing debt. I hope McConnell has a stroke
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL: “Pro-lfe” = “Forced birth.” Also, too, SLUTS NEED TO BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR SLUTTERY!
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:
You’re off by at least one decimal point.
Gin & Tonic
You’re not the boss of me, Mayhew!!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
TenguPhule
@JPL:
“Prolife”: Those dicks won’t suck themselves, woman!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: @Gin & Tonic: He didn’t say how big a “one”.
??? Martin
I’m not celebrating. This wasn’t a victory so much as ducking a catastrophe, and I’m not expecting McConnell to give up so easily. Remember, they can still destroy ACA from within and then just lean on Senators to do something, anything given ACA is unraveling. I suspect things are going to get worse regardless.
JPL
@raven: Are you traveling to CA for your BIL’s service? I received some devastating news about my ex’s step sil who died yesterday or today. She was my son’s crazy aunt, and every one is so sad. The NYC police went into her residence today, when she didn’t show up for an appt.
btw .. I feel guilty that I didn’t answer her last email. fkfkfkfk
TenguPhule
@??? Martin: @??? Martin:
A stay of execution. But they still have the chair all warmed up and waiting tomorrow. And the day after that.
Jeffro
@mai naem mobile: don’t you remember how immediately after Obama won he went on victory tours of the blue states?
And how he limited all of his press conferences to DailyKos folks? LOL – remember all those fawning softball questions they threw at him? All the times they went to bat for him and pretended like his campaign never colluded with China?
Whew – the wingers sure were steamed about that, weren’t they?
m0nty
This is why I don’t like earmarks. The carve outs are basically earmarks, bribes to accept unpopular policies. I realise the arguments for earmarks from the left but when they are used in this way to push through bad policy it highlights the problem.
cmorenc
@David Anderson:
It counts if it’s legal in at least some states, even if not the state you happen to be in, right?
Eric S.
@Omnes Omnibus: this! I want (and have had) more than one.
??? Martin
@JPL: I haven’t seen anything comment on this – but if this bill passed and was reconciled with the House, any woman learning she had a child that had a genetic or other kind of lifelong condition would be highly incentivized to get an abortion knowing that child would almost guarantee your bankruptcy and inability to provide your family with a reasonable future, and then when that child became an adult, repeat the process all over again.
When they talk about ‘personal responsiblity’, that’s what a lot of people will regrettably revert to. A sick or special needs child is difficult enough to raise without being constantly bankrupted no matter how hard you work. That sends a clear signal to parents.
Eric S.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh! You are so correct. If I have to open a second bottle but never let my glass go empty am i still on 1?
MobiusKlein
@Baud: I only have one available.
Omnes Omnibus
OT: At work today, I met with AA Marine Corps vet. Before we started working his issues, we were just chatting and he mentioned that he had been a poll worker back in November. He also said “We put in a lot of work and look what we got out of it.” He paused, and then said, “You may see it the other way.” I guess the look of horror and disgust that involuntarily appeared on my face reassured him because he started laughing.
Omnes Omnibus
@??? Martin: Sorry, this is a win. It isn’t a big win, but it is a win. Now, gird your loins for the next fight.
JPL
@??? Martin: The Senate bill according to the latest report would increase births, because of the closures of planned parenthood. Both bills would decrease funding for the disabled. Those lives are expendable. SAD
Davis X. Machina
@Hunter Gathers: She’s not budging… unless by budging you mean ‘agreeing to participate in a bipartisan process that has less than zero chance in the present Senate’:
Heller is equally dug in….
piratedan
Mitchie probably has to order up some custom made kompromat to flip a few votes. It’ll take that long to format and get it in the appropriate form before he can visit those that are opposed. Now if Mitchie and his Russian buddies can’t turn them with money, they’ll use the fallbacks…
and while I genuinely admire Slytherin graduate McConnell for his ability to move the goalposts on demand and be able to lie without a facial tic, I won’t have any regrets if Mueller traces the money and puts his ass in jail where he gets stick with a shiv by a guy named Jesse.
mai naem mobile
@Jeffro: if my memory serves me right, Obama was denying collusion with Kenya,his birthplace. And i forgot the part where Michelle was sitting in Chicago with the City of Chicago shelling out $1M daily for security. Also too, the daily golfing. Who could ever forget the daily golfing with his Chicago thug pals?
Eric S.
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes. As we preach to each other on my softball teams, let’s win the current inning. It’s the achievable goal and gives you confidence for the next. Yes, we have to go right back to work but each inning won brings us closer to victory.
BCHS Class of 1980
@Davis X. Machina: Since she wants to be governor, she has no interest in governing Maine in the aftermath of this shitstorm. I think she and Heller have seized the two hall passes and screw the others.
LurkerNoLonger
Realistically how much would this have to be changed to get a better CBO score? Seems like they would have to start over. And whatever carve outs and plus ups doesn’t change that 23 million uninsured number in any major way.
jl
It’s going to take ever increasing pressure. Murkowski issued the most abject weaselly statements imaginable. Collins has already prepared a scenario of a BS victory that will give her an excuse. Heller may be only solid to the extent electoral reality of NV means that even unlimited corporate cash will not save him if he votes yes (saw a poll showing a dead heat in upcoming election), but if he gets less scared he will find a way to come back to the fold too.
So, they have to be amazed at even more public pressure when this comes up for a vote after McConnell thinks his $200 B has bought enough souls.
Davis X. Machina
@BCHS Class of 1980: Heller actually used the phrase ‘an offer we can’t refuse’ in a tweet tonight. For a Nevada senator, that’s pretty dispositive.
drdavechemist
@mai naem mobile:
This brings up a question I hadn’t thought about before: Who else plays with him when Trump is golfing? We knew who at least some of Obama’s basketball buddies were, and some of them were truly longtime friends. Does Trump have people that he goes out with on a regular basis? Does he just horn in on whoever needs a foursome at one of his clubs? (Because who in that position would say, “No thanks!”?) Do his kids or his son-in-law play? We hear that he doesn’t really have friends in the sense that most of us would understand, in which case what’s the point of golf? It’s a mystery to me (like so much else about his life).
Jeffro
@mai naem mobile: that lazy fucker – I totally forgot!
Golfing every 5.5 days since his inauguration and doubling the membership fee at his private basketball gym too. Whew, no wonder the Rs went apeshit (and justifiably so!)
Uncle Cosmo
It’s like being down three games to one in the finals, & pulling out Game 5 with a shot at the buzzer. It’s a win, & a big one, worth celebrating – but all it really does is force a Game 6; you’ve got to do it twice more before you hoist the cup.
chris
@Baud: Meanwhile on the other side of the aisle…
jl
@LurkerNoLonger: Well, that is the point, that the moderate GOPers really have no principles at all when it comes to taking action. They are all talk. A bill this bad cannot be made good based on whatever #200 billion McConnell has lying around for very minor changes.
If you care about health care, you are against this bill. If the moderate were serious they would say flat out absolute no to the bill.
It’s not like they don’t have constructive proposals to move forward with an alternative approach.
Remember that Collins was working on a bipartisan Senate bill that David Anderson said could be pretty good.
But McConnell told her to forget about it and drop it. And Collins did exactly that, like a good little flunky.
Has she mentioned even once that she was working on a bipartisan alternative to the McConnell mess? She hasn’t and that is a sign that she wants to be a good GOP flunky more than anything, other than, or course, electoral defeat, or having to serve in minority party in the Senate.
??? Martin
@JPL: I think it’s well established that women will find a way to terminate a pregnancy even without access to Planned Parenthood. Besides, airfare to CA is a lot cheaper now.
ksmiami
@piratedan: I just hope McConnell and Paul Ryan die (soon) horrible, painful and lonely deaths. They deserve nothing less as they are moral monsters.
??? Martin
@drdavechemist: Sergei, Fyodor, Petra, Nicolai – you know, the usual guys hanging around.
Citizen_X
@Villago Delenda Est:
Wait, I’m not helping. Does this mean I’m a replicant?
Omnes Omnibus
@??? Martin:
Tell that to the woman with three part-time jobs and two kids at home. Dear god, I could do a Martin length post on the cluelessness of this comment.
efgoldman
@Davis X. Machina:
She doesn’t have to budge. Neither does Heller. If Yertle McTurtle turns the others, Suzy Q and Heller get free votes.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: So keep calling.
Davis X. Machina
@jl:
I remember when Ron Weyden did the exact same thing. It happens in Congress.
MomSense
@??? Martin:
We won a battle. There are more to come but we have to celebrate every win so we have the strength to keep fighting.
Tomorrow is the human chain around the capitol and over the recess we will have to make a big stink.
Did anyone see the video of the impromptu rally last night on the steps of the capitol? It started with John Lewis and Cory Booker having a conversation and then people and other Senators started showing up. They were passing Booker’s phone around to capture everyone on video. Really heartening to see a spontaneous rally.
Omnes Omnibus
@Davis X. Machina: Wyden did it in the interest of moving forward a bill that would benefit people. Can Collins say the same?
efgoldman
@??? Martin:
Granny Starver has the disadvantage of being a True Believer. He really, really believes that the snake oil he’s selling off the back of the wagon DOES cure lumbago, baldness, impotence….
Yertle McTurtle is worse. He believes in nothing except money and power. He is more cynical than even I am. He doesn’t really care about the ACA one way or another; if there was a different way to get the tax cuts for his paymasters, he’d use it.
If Granny Starver was a tenth the competent legislator as Yertle, the bill would have been on Orange Crush’s desk by Memorial Day.
jl
@efgoldman: I just want to note an instance where your corrosive and unhealthy cynicism was pointed in the correct direction, and excellently and concisely expressed.
sdhays
@jl: I don’t trust Collins any more than you do, but IF she’s actually thinking to run for governor next year, voting yes is deeply against her political interests. If she wasn’t up for a few more years, I wouldn’t expect anything from her, but right now, I think it’s actually plausible that she’s going to occupy one of the two “no” slots. Heller has little to gain from this passing, especially with his vote, so I think it’s very plausible that he’ll stick to his guns on “no” as well.
That leaves us to find one more hard “no”, and I don’t know where that comes from. Neither of the Alaskan Senators should touch this bill with a ten-foot pole given what it’s expected to do to Alaskans in particular, but I don’t have any confidence in Murkowski holding the line. And I don’t believe for a minute crazy caucus Senators like Rand Paul or Ted Cruz or Mike Lee would dare to actually kill this bill themselves. If the only no’s are Collins and Heller, the crazy caucusers will find a way to yes, just like their House brethren.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: yeah, gonna have to pile on and say that that comment was insanely clueless and callous.
Davis X. Machina
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes. Her present position is a vote for the status quo ante. The status quo ante happens to be the ACA — the very bill Weyden/Bennett was shelved for.
Shalimar
So basically, their plan is to make the “cornhusker kickback” look like minor league bribery? Do they forget the previous “cornhusker kickback” was so embarrassing politically for Ben Nelson that it didn’t make it into the final Obamacare bill?
Lurking Canadian
@drdavechemist: The rumour was that he plays with the club pro. Nobody will play with him voluntarily, so he pays the guy to play with him.
As for what’s the point…I’m convinced golf hits the same dopamine receptors that get problem gamblers hooked. Every now and then, you hit a good shot, and you think “I can DO this!”. That’s what keeps me coming back anyway. Certainly not camaraderie. I prefer to play by myself. I’m not very good, but I’m much better when nobody is watching.
Major Major Major Major
@Shalimar: even Ben Nelson had a modicum of shame. The GOP is so shamelessly power-mad and greedy that Joe Lieberman looked at it and said nuh-uh.
Omnes Omnibus
@Davis X. Machina: It all hinges on her next vote, don’t it?
Omnes Omnibus
@Lurking Canadian: Skiing hits those same dopamine receptors. Hit a few turns well and the world seems perfect. If can’t do all the time, you chase the moments when you can. If you are wise, you treasure the transcendent moments and just enjoy the rest.
Steeplejack (phone)
@drdavechemist:
The people I have seen mentioned are what I would call “other celebrities”: professional golfers, Peyton Manning, etc. But I haven’t made a study of it, and it’s interesting that Trump’s minions often have tried to stifle any information about his golf outings.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus:
Maybe that’s why I never got into golf.
Shalimar
@??? Martin: Airfare to California? There is a reason republicans started legislating waiting periods to get an abortion. The expense of having to drive to a clinic in another city twice increased the cost to where many women coildn’t afford it. A plane ticket to California along with the hotel room and time off of work is way beyond the means of people living at or below the poverty line.
Waratah
I saw how bipartisan worked on the ACA every contribution I saw from Republicans was detrimental, raised the cost to users. So I am not looking forward to that kind of bipartisan health care.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t golf either.
Shalimar
@Major Major Major Major: The comparison is so obvious and direct that it is at least worth pointing out that non-sociopaths would be ashamed.
Omnes Omnibus
@Shalimar: He’s been jumped on over this. i would be interested in seeing a response.
pattonbt
@sdhays: Even is she gets a nice bribe for the state to vote yes? Couldn’t she simply say “see what I can get done for great state of Maine? Can my opponent do that?”
Omnes Omnibus
@pattonbt: No. It will still be worse. Stop looking for excuses.
Mnemosyne
@??? Martin:
You seem to be confused between winning a battle and winning the whole war.
We won another battle, and we live to fight another day, but the war continues.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Nah, he is an asshole, but he is with us in a number of things.
Gretchen
Once they delayed the vote, my courageous senator, Jerry Moran R-KS said he thought that was a good idea. A couple of days ago he was afraid “we” wouldn’t be able to get the votes. I’ll call him in the morning to thank him, and call Roberts’ asshole Intern and tell him Roberts should take a cue from his colleague.
I listened to Pod Save America today, and two Obama guys reminisced about how, after all the months of hearings, there were still drafting errors in the ACA that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The hearing process is, among other things, meant to weed out these mistakes before they become law.
Villago Delenda Est
@Steeplejack (phone): This is because Donald is like Auric Goldfinger; he cheats at golf.
Gretchen
@Lurking Canadian: seriously? He has to have a paid employee play golf with him? I can’t imagine being that friendless. But then I’m not an awful person who cheats everyone who comes into contact with me.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hit a few turns wrong and your world ends.
Matt McIrvin
@LurkerNoLonger: They could try to craft it to push the baleful effects out past whatever time window the CBO is using for its analysis. But that would also push out the money savings, which might be an obstacle to whatever tax cuts they want to do.
d58826
@satby: By the time the GOP is finished in DS that may apply to most of the population in the US.
navigator
Just called NC and DC offices for Senators Burr and Tillis.
Burr’s a walking argle-bargle who’s retiring in ’22, and Tillis is a smirking, in-your-face partisan.
But I brought up how many people they know who use Medicaid, and asked that they ask around on break.
There are lots of assisted living facilities in my area, and lots of residents’ relatives who voted both for those two and for Trump.
I believe that under the radar, this is a real vulnerability in this plan.
Sab
Rob Portman sure is a piece of work.