If you want to repeal Obamacare with FY17 reconciliation, you better do it soon:
*PARLIAMENTARIAN RULES ACA REPEAL MECHANISM EXPIRES SEPT 30— Anna Edgerton (@annaedge4) September 1, 2017
The dramatic vote at 2:20 AM where all forty eight Democrats and three Republican Senators voted against Skinny Repeal did not kill the bill. It merely killed an amendment in the form of a substitute to the underlying reconciliation compatible repeal measure. Senator Majority Leader McConnell then pulled the vehicle from consideration at that time. He reserved the right to put it back on the calendar.
The big question remained as to when the reconciliation vehicle dies. It will die if it is not passed in the fiscal year for the budget it was created from. That means it is only a viable vehicle until midnight on September 30, 2017. Once must-pass bills are taken care of (CHIP, Harvey, flood insurance, debt limit, FY-18 funding) Democrats must insist on either immediate adjournment until 12:01 AM October 1st or promise to filibuster everything including post office renaming bills to run out the clock.
Once FY-18 begins, the reconciliation instructions need to be written again and it basically forces a choice between tax cuts or the repeal buzz saw for Republicans.
Cheryl Rofer
Yay! Another way to tie up the destructionists after October 1!
[I would rather see Congress acting for the American people, but as long as we have these idiots who want to destroy the country running Congress, obstruction and delay are the least worst options.]
Major Major Major Major
Can’t they just put in reconciliation instructions for tax cuts and healthcare, like the Dems did for student loans and healthcare?
Roger Moore
@Cheryl Rofer:
I think part of the approach is to make genuinely useful stuff easy while still fighting tooth and nail against the destructive parts. It lets the Democrats make a reasonable claim that they aren’t just being mindless obstructionists while also giving the Republicans a reason to want to focus on easy consensus stuff rather than difficult partisan stuff.
NR
It’s worth noting that the parliamentarian is not the ultimate authority for Senate procedure. The President of the Senate (who right now is Mike Pence) can overrule him at any time. And I wouldn’t put it past these assholes to do something like that.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: I’m so old I remember when this strategy made them evil out-of-touch sellouts who didn’t understand the depth of the problem.
Cheryl Rofer
@Roger Moore: Yes. I’m just in a fed-up mood this morning that would happily flush all Republican Congress down the toilet. [Or provide your preferred fate for them]
Cheryl Rofer
@NR: *her
David Anderson
@NR: Senate Republicans don’t want to live in a world where single payer is passable with 51 votes.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
I remember that time like it was yesterday, probably because it was for a vocal group on the left. I’ve always opposed mindless obstructionism as a policy because the Democrats actually want a functioning government. It’s Republicans who want a smoking crater where the government used to be, so the Democrats would actually be helping them by adopting total scorched earth policies.
@Cheryl Rofer:
I would love to get rid of all the Republican Congresscritters, too; I just retain enough residual realism to understand that’s not a plausible outcome. In the absence of something that will get all the Republicans out of Congress, I’m willing to tolerate a strategy that will minimize the amount of mischief they cause. It might actually be better if we could somehow train them that working with the Democrats to achieve the people’s business was a better strategy than extreme partisanship, but that’s more of a stretch goal.
rikyrah
Tick tock..
tick tock..
let’s run out the clock
efgoldman
@David Anderson:
Yertle the Turtle and his caucus managed to find the one weird trick in which repeal would fail.
I wonder if at least some of the kkkrazy kkkaukus in the house are having second thoughts now that their constituents’ feelings are clear.
satby
O.T. but commenter Riley’sEnabler mentioned a couple of days ago she and her family were safe after getting out of their flooded area in/near Houston. If you see this Riley’s, send me a convo at my store (my nym is a link). Wanted to know if there’s anything you need we can get to you!
Wish Corner Stone would just check in too. Or any other Harvey affected lurkers.
Tokyokie
@efgoldman: The kkkrazy kkkawcuss having second thoughts implies they had first ones.
rikyrah
Ryan Asks Trump to Hold Off on Scrapping DACA
September 1, 2017 at 12:56 pm EDT
Speaker Paul Ryan “gave a major boost to legislative efforts to preserve protections for young undocumented immigrants — and urged President Trump to not tear up the program,” CNN reports.
“The popular Obama administration program — which gives protections from deportation to undocumented immigrants that were brought to the US as children to work or study — has long been targeted by Republicans as an overreach of executive authority. Nevertheless, a number of moderate Republicans alongside Democrats support the program and have offered legislation that would make the protections permanent.”
efgoldman
@Tokyokie:
The bill failed in the house first time, barely passed the second… BEFORE most of the congresscritters went home and caught holy hell about it.
efgoldman
@rikyrah:
Even doctrinaire ideologues can count.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Objection!
Magic Asterisk accounting says otherwise.
dmsilev
@NR: Besides the precedent issue already mentioned, I think that’s unlikely for the same reason that the actual repeal bills (not the ‘punt this hot potato to a committee’ skinny repeal) failed by several votes: the GOP doesn’t have any real consensus on an actual health-care policy beyond ‘Obamacare bad’. Maybe if they had done the actual work to craft something they could have built that internal consensus, but McConnell went with the ‘because I say so’ approach instead.
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major: Usually not how budget reconciliation works. It’s supposed to allow for only one bite of the apple, and from what I understand because of the budget shenanigans tax reform is already in the reconciliation rules for 2018. It’s September 30th or nothin’.
dmsilev
@Yutsano: It gets better. For the 2018 reconciliation bill to be valid, Congress first has to pass a 2018 budget. Which they have not yet done.
Mary G
@dmsilev: I am still gobsmacked at how inept they are at planning and writing legislation for the real world. I thought incompetence would be helpful, but this is beyond my wildest dreams. Of course, they are destroying the State Department, the EPA, HUD, the Education Department and the military (by telling members who to vote for and banning transgender members), so they are still doing plenty of damage.
efgoldman
@Yutsano:
One of many things we’ve learned over the last several years, is Yertle McTurtle will not hesitate to bend the rules or break their spines across his knee to enact his agenda. In this case, though, I think the old traditionalists wouldn’t back the play.
mai naem mobile
When u saw the header of this post I thought maybe Mueller had dropped an indictment and the end was beginning for Dolt45 but alas…
rikyrah
I have been telling folks..
The MSM and a lot of Dems don’t understand..
IT’S A NEW DAY
This isn’t 2000.
This isn’t even 2004, after Shrub lied us into TWO WARS.
It’s a whole other day, and those of us on this side are thinking entire differently.
We have no phucks to give. And, we aren’t interesting in finding any.
We aren’t just against Dolt45 because he’s GOP.
We find him disgusting AS A HUMAN BEING..
And, he offends our very senses.
AND.we have the 8 years of receipts from the GOP obstruction of 44, and don’t want to hear ANYTHING about ‘finding common ground’.
THERE.IS.NO.COMMON.GROUND.
So, go ahead, California. Light.her.azz.up!!
rikyrah
Jonathan CapehartVerified account @CapehartJ
.@vanitaguptaCR: “I have never seen an administration that’s been so intent on pursuing an anti-civil rights agenda”
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Jesus…Feinstein is 84, seeking another 6 year term. Not to be ageist but ok, to be ageist, that’s ridiculous. My dad used to chuckle about folks who want to “die with their hand still on the throttle”…I guess I know what he means now…ugh…
rikyrah
Sarah KliffVerified account @sarahkliff
HHS told Obamacare workers their budget was safe – then they cut it 40 percent. https://www.vox.com/health-care/2017/9/1/16243232/voxcare-hhs-obamacare-budget?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter … via @voxdotcom
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Well, not since the Confederacy that is…
Yutsano
@efgoldman: I can’t believe he was foolish enough to change the Supreme Court rules. He had to know this will hurt the Republicans later down the road. And the Democrats will retake the White House and the Senate at some point in the future. Dying on this sword for Doly45 is gonna hurt them badly.
TenguPhule
@Yutsano:
Not his concern. His concern is what he can do today. Tomorrow is someone else’s job to do cleanup.
TenguPhule
@dmsilev:
And at this rate, never will.
Its says something about the times we’re in that CRs all the way are actually the best possible option.
Fair Economist
@Jeffro: 84 is too old to promise 6 more years of service in a demanding job. My parent’s friends are getting to that age and the speed with which decline can set in shocks me. One went from golfing 18 holes to barely being able to stand up from a chair, in just two years.
If she doesn’t retire, it’s a good opportunity for a BernieBro type. And I’d probably support them in it too.
rikyrah
WH budget director boasts of tricking Trump into slashing disability benefits by calling it ‘welfare’
Brad Reed
01 Sep 2017 at 08:44 ET
President Donald Trump vowed throughout the 2016 presidential campaign that he would not cut Social Security or Medicare.
Despite this, however, the president’s proposed budget
featured a massive $70 billion cut in Social Security disability
benefits over the span of a decade.
A Politico profile
of White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney reveals exactly how this happened — essentially, Mulvaney tricked Trump into agreeing to disabilities benefits cuts by calling it a “welfare” program.
Earlier this year, Mulvaney tried to get Trump to agree to
cuts in Social Security and Medicare, but the president wouldn’t budge. Then he brought up disabilities benefits, which piqued Trump’s interest.
“Tell me about that,” Trump said.
“It’s welfare,” Mulvaney said.
“OK, we can fix welfare,” Trump declared.
Politico notes that Mulvaney is proudly telling
this story about how he manipulated Trump into cutting benefits for 11 million disabled Americans on the record — and it’s an indication of the clout he has that he doesn’t fear telling anecdotes that show his boss to be woefully misinformed.
efgoldman
@Yutsano:
That’s exactly why they make sure to appoint judges/justices mostly in their 40s and no older than early 50s. By the time it matters, Yertle will be long out of office and likely dead.
efgoldman
@rikyrah:
On his best days, Mulvaney is truly evil and damned proud of it. He would gladly pick every third poor person at random and hang them, cackling loudly the whole time. Not hyperbole, either.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: I always thought Robert Byrd wanted to die a Senator, to be laid out under the rotunda. I don’t see Feinstein as the same kind of demented romantic as old Foghorn Klanhorne, but maybe she feels the same way.
Major Major Major Major
@Yutsano: then how did the Dems do it in 2010?
rikyrah
New York Daily NewsVerified account @NYDailyNews
JUST IN: Serena Williams welcomes baby girl with fiancé Alexis Ohanian
http://nydn.us/2gxk8LU
Mary G
@efgoldman: I suspect he would like to copy Hitler’s “Final Solution,” only with poors, LGBTQ, uppity women, non-white people, etc. And not just every third one, all of us.
TenguPhule
Breaking News: Huckabee Shitter announces that Orangemadius will make another public fuckup on Tuesday. This time about the DACA.
Frank Wilhoit
@efgoldman: No one has ever questioned their ability to count. The problem is that they do not think counting is the right thing to do.
efgoldman
@Mary G:
Mulvaney? He sees everything as dollars and cents and doesn’t think ebil gummint should spend a nickel on anything. Nothing personal.
Unlike Velveeta Voldemort and some of his recently departed advisors.
TenguPhule
Given the choice between backing Trump and Republican Congress Critters against Trump, guess who their base decided to double down on?
efgoldman
It doesn’t matter, of course, he’s not going to live out his current term.
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major: This might (sort of) answer that question, although it makes it seem like there was still two bites at the apple.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamacare-was-not-passed-using-budget-reconciliation/2016/01/22/e72d321a-bed5-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html?utm_term=.e5bc56dfa175
EDIT: per the FTNYT the student loan package was added on to that short reconciliation bill rather than on its own.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26loans.html?mcubz=1
NR
@Cheryl Rofer: Thanks for the information.
NR
@dmsilev: Yes, they won’t overrule the parlimentarian unless they have the votes to actually pass something. I’m just saying that if that ever happens, they won’t let the parliamentarian be an obstacle to what they want.
Insane Clown POTUS
@efgoldman:
It’s possible there could be two senators up for election in 2018 in Arizona. If a wingnut successfully primaries Flake, there could be a real pickup opportunity for the dems.