OK, so Senator Bunning's objection is that the US Senate, earlier this year, promised to not do this sort of thing without having the funding—or in other words, to not increase the Federal Deficit and Federal Debt.
But, still, it is the extension of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans and the avoidance of old people on Medicare and TRICARE finding their PCPs♠ pulling back.
But, the number one problem we face is the debt, especially foreign debt.
What I don't understand is why the US Senate doesn't just buckle down and treat this like a bill, breaking it up into its part and then voting for it. There are 99 other Senators out there. What are they doing? Sitting around, doing nothing?
I started this point on Friday evening. Now, on Saturday morning, we have this from The Washington Post (note this is Democratic Party Senator Chuck Schumer, not Republican Senator Jim Bunning
"We have to be careful here. We need job creation. . . . At the same time, we're really worried about deficits and too much spending," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently told reporters. Of Obama's request for an additional $267 billion to boost the economy, he said: "Whether we could get something as big as $270 billion through the Senate or even through the House, I just don't know."I am, unusual as it may be, with Senator Chuck Schumer on this.
Regards — Cliff
♠ Primary Care Physicians.
8 comments:
Methinks that most of the political energy being expended by the majority party is focused on the campaign promises of...the therefore the massive ego needs of Mr. Obama. I am one of the likely few who consumed the entire political drama that was the so-called health care summit. It was little more than a pulpit for Obama to lecture the nation and preen publically about his vastly superior knowledge about all things politic and therefore human. His treatment of the minority party was condescending and patronizing while the Democrat response was as carefully orchestrated as anything the world has ever seen on the stage of grand politics. The only shoe left to drop is when Harry will announce that the Obamacare freight train is barrelling through. Until that work is done, no other significant work will be considered or accomplished.
And when it is finally undertaken (pun intended) those programs will have soaring pricetags and urgencies bordering on sheer panic.....and the majority will tell the minority (especially GWB) that they made them have to do it.
As the Reps continuously pleaded to deaf (and likely dumb) ears, "We need to scrap this whole thing, and start from scratch." Perhaps they should have been referring to the entire US Congress and Administration.
Neal
Neal,
You sound so folksy and homespun. Your anger has street cred.
Why use tired GOPer talking points? Or as I like to call them, TP.
You sound like you can't accept being pwned. That is ego, methinks.
Jack, I suppose some ego is manifested as it is with anyone who speaks up. Mine stems from 33 years as an enlisted toad in the AF, much of which was spent as a Chief (which of course breeds a bit of ego from just having arrived at a rank that is limited by Federal law to less than 1% of the active duty Service).
I wouldn't use tired TP if I thought they were invalid. The basic issue underlying almost everything going on at the Federal political level today is philosophical. The Dems think that they know best and seek to institutionalize that by the expansion of big government and authority. The Reps are more inclined to less government. I favor the latter. I supposed that was groomed by years and years of having to deal with faceless Clingons who occupied "higher hq" telling us from afar how to deal with the stuff right there in our trenches.
Oh......and an important point.....I am NOT a Rep. I am NOT an Independent as is currently defined. AND....I am not a tea partier. I am an American who fights to retain an educated, FREE ability to assess and choose what will be done with my life.
Life is good.....and I hope your's is too.
Best Regards,
Neal
Neal,
As a former Infantry team leader, I am fully behind your disdain for the HQ dwellers and REMFs.
That said, as a philosophy, the military is very much communal in most respects. And without a doubt, totalitarian. It is a system that gets results. It is no way to run a large, diverse nation, though.
So as a struggling member of the working class, I am elated that the Democratic Party is identifying priorities that match my immediate needs.
I need Health Care Reform. And the Dems are just the ones to do it. Their ideas are closer to the reality I see on the ground.
Also, philisophically, I don't view government as separate from me. It is me and I am it. One. I have a part time job in the "governing," as I keep my nose to the grindstone.
I think, and maybe this describes you, maybe not; that too many folks view themselves as islands, disconnected and isolated.
My e-mail addie is sleeping.giant.stirs. I believe in America. Especially when we work collectively to overcome and achieve. In my mind, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.
If my views seem alien, let me summarize: We mean you no harm.
Would have loved to respond off-line to you but you neglected to put your provider down in your email addie.
We do need health care reform...desperately. We do need an overseer to make it happen in the right way. Who the overseer might be, and what authority they have is a bone of contention. I think having the Sebilious or her successor determing what care you and I need, and how that care might be "afforded" is not the right answer. I need Big Brother to ensure that the playing field is level, but I don't need Big Brother micromanaging my every move and decision. I will concede that right (to some extent) to the states and local authorities.
In the end, WE are the people..and the government....and I want it back to the WE instead of the faceless, self-righteous THEY. And I am not swayed by the "you voted them in" argument. Big money and big interests did that. You and I can't afford to play in that league.....which is perhaps sad. Somewhere out there in the great unwashed is a person who might well have the LEADERSHIP to make a huge difference.
I am not an island, no man is or should be. I am part of a team, a society, and as such, I have a right, and a duty to speak my mind and my heart. And although I am not a fan of the GOP, my sense is that last Thursday, there was honesty in their commentary. If a person is so certain of their infallibility, so bullet proof, they will fail to listen to the signs that would guide them in the right direction...and they end up in failure. You should know that from your days in the infantry. A platoon, squad, company, or even a brigade leader who knows it all gets people killed. The Dems are in that mindset at the moment. lead by "The One" and that for all of us is dangerous.
We need progress, not patronizing.
Neal
I'm @ gmail.com
This idea of "The One" is a fabrication of folks like Frank Luntz. I've met Obama briefly and have repeatedly seen him in venues, large and small. Suffice to say, I am one of his foot soldiers. Though, only as a volunteer. When Hillary was "inevitable," you'd be surprised how few of us there were. Now he is POTUS. Go figure.
I think Obama has a great military bearing. His salute is "crispy." Not that flyboy fling that W. used to sling. If Obama was a field grade officer, I imagine he would be "one of the good ones."
You said, " I will concede that right (to some extent) to the states and local authorities."
So you would agree with Rep. Marsha Blackburn? Please watch this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unoWmtKOnHU
Now let's consider the role of each states consumer protection laws. Here in MA, there are mandates put on providers to carry certain benefits, e.g. mammograms.
Rep Blackburn would allow me to escape the "big brother" aspect of this, by allowing me to purchase from a state where this mandate doesn't exist. Yes. I will save money. For sure.
What if I want to buy toys that are made under looser lead safety measures? Hell, who should care if I poison my own kid. Don't toy makers deserve a fair chance to go to Texas to make shit toys? Especially, if I can't afford better or if I don't even know that TX sells poisonous toys until AFTER my kid's brain is toast? Caveat Emptor! I lose! Wonder who pays to edumacate my water head? Well. I would, as I send my kids to private school, K-8, at least.
What Blackburn is proposing is predicated on a laissez-faire interpretation of Caveat Emptor. That is that states could set the standard of service, unique to their own politics (and lobbying efforts) and that consumers could seek out those products from afar. There is not doubt that some states would become "dens of iniquity" where junk policies would be hawked. Ill informed consumers would be led by their wallets to be slaughtered on the alter of the "free market." We Dems refer to this as "lowering the bar."
What I support is a base line requirement that ensures the "level playing field" that you prefer.
OK...you are an Obama fan. Good, everybody needs to love somebody. I see some good things in him and that is as far as I go on that subject.
In re: states rights and so on. I noted with interest this AM that Deval is trying desperately to put cost controls on the runaway expense that has become the MA example touted by the Congressional majority. I think I heard predictions of the same sort of glide path when Obamacare becomes law.
MA is scrambling to pay for it, among many other things admittedly, but healthcare for all in MA has become healthcare at any cost for everyone. BTW, in MA, folks are actually struggling to work LESS hours so that they can qualify and retain the "free" part of MA healthcare. How is THAT a good thing?
Now when you call the Registry, it will cost you $5 to talk to a real person. That charge was hustled into policy by Obama's buddy Deval, literally in the dead of night with explicit instruction that there would be no public education effort. I surmise that Obamacare cost recovery will take the same form in many, many directions.
As for Caveat Emptor, well, all of the back room, after hour sweetheart deals made my not only THIS administration, but also W and his predecessor have made that axiom more important than ever.
To the extent I am able, if it doesn't say, "Made in the USA" I refuse to purchase it. It sickens me that we import way more than we export (except for dollars). The whining about jobs has its roots in the Clinton administration and NAFTA and was aided and abetted by W. This administration has done nothing to move jobs back from off shore....nor will they. But they will redistribute the income from the very few who still have a job.
As Walter Cronkite was fond of saying, "And that's the way it is today, except, you are there."
I drive a Ford. Mrs. Mitchell drives a Dodge.
Please watch the video:
http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2009/may/090504_tax.htm
(It's about Obama's effort to keep work from going overseas)
I buy my health insurance direct from Fallon. I found the plan through the exchange that is set up on the Commonwealth Connector.
It saved me money and gave me a comparison of products to make an informed decision.
If you don't mind, when you say stuff like this: BTW, in MA, folks are actually struggling to work LESS hours so that they can qualify and retain the "free" part of MA healthcare.
Could you cite your source? A link is best.
It's not that I think you're making it up, but it is always better to provide third party validation. Like Cliff does.
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