United States Congress

[clueliss]

After admitting to using an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper.  Did these people learn NOTHING from the oopies of say Clinton coming into office?  

[GreyhoundFan]

40 minutes ago, clueliss said:

After admitting to using an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper.  Did these people learn NOTHING from the oopies of say Clinton coming into office?  

They always think they won't be found out.

[GreyhoundFan]

OMG, on Samantha Bee tonight, she showed Paul Ryan's high school yearbook, where his classmates voted him...wait for it..."Biggest Brown-noser". She followed up with, "considering who he's been sucking up to, he's probably more of an orange noser now."

 

I almost made myself ill laughing. She kept slamming Ryan, which warmed my cold heart.

[RoseWilder]

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, has decided that we don't need an investigation into Trump's ties to Russia, but instead he wants to investigate the person who blew the whistle on Flynn: 

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/15/1634261/-Rep-Chaffetz-goes-full-stooge-as-he-decides-to-ask-for-investigation-into-who-blew-Flynn-s-cover

Chaffetz seems to be having a contest with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to see who can make me despise them the most. 

 

[candygirl200413]

Can we pray that Utah finally learns that Chaffetz is like the worst and obviously hates his constitutes?! Like lord I'd be outside of his office in DC every night by now!!

I'm just waiting for the final hat to drop of whatever Russia has on many of these congress members who obviously don't care about this country.

[fraurosena]

Lawmakers introduce bill to block Trump from lifting Russia sanctions:

https://www.rt.com/usa/377524-bill-russia-sanctions-introduced/

Quote

“Every American, every Republican, every Democrat is concerned about Russia and what they have been doing to violate international law, not to mention the criminal behavior they may be pursuing and are pursuing, we believe, in Syria,” Democratic Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer said at a media conference.

It's good to see some repubs are working with the democrats. It would be even better to see more of just a handful of them though. The more bi-partisan actions are taken, the better. Baby steps though, baby steps...

[GreyhoundFan]

The WaPo had a series of good political cartoons this morning. Here were my favorites:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Republican Congress cannot be trusted to investigate the Russia scandal".  The best part of the article.

Quote

We all know that if this were happening under a Democratic president, Republicans in Congress wouldn’t just be investigating, they’d shut down every other bit of congressional business to do nothing but investigate. After all, they conducted seven separate investigations of the Benghazi attacks, a tragic but fairly straightforward episode, in the hopes that it could be used to bring down Hillary Clinton. When Bill Clinton was president, they opened investigations into such weighty matters as whether Bill and Hillary murdered their friend Vince Foster, whether they had misused the White House Christmas card list — on that one, they heard 140 hours of sworn testimony — and, I kid you not, Socks the cat. Yes, Dan Burton, of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, once demanded to know whether taxpayer resources were being used to respond to children’s letters to the president’s cat.

That was an outrage worthy of serious scrutiny. Russia manipulating our political process? Whatevs.

You couldn't make this shit up -- 140 hours of sworn testimony about the freaking Christmas card list? I hadn't heard that one before. I remember the hand-wringing about Socks.

[Childless]

9 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"The Republican Congress cannot be trusted to investigate the Russia scandal".  The best part of the article.

You couldn't make this shit up -- 140 hours of sworn testimony about the freaking Christmas card list? I hadn't heard that one before. I remember the hand-wringing about Socks.

Republicans are pathetic and I don't believe for a second that they give two shits about this country.  They care about lining their own pockets and nothing more.  And I include Dampnut and his minions in that grouping.

[infooverload]

Republicans are pathetic and I don't believe for a second that they give two shits about this country.  They care about lining their own pockets and nothing more.  And I include Dampnut and his minions in that grouping.

Someone should calculate the amount wasted on bull shit investigations finding nothing and then run it in a campaign add going "Fiscal responsibility shouldn't include funding wild goose chases, while neglecting real concerns. You wouldn't put off maintenance on your personal residence to go ghost hunting, but apparently your representative will."

[sawasdee]

I keep remembering how, when Obama was elected, I was scared. For him.  That some right wing neo nazi nut would try to assassinate him.

Now I'm scared because of another president  but of him, and for the US..

[onekidanddone]

Looks like Senator  McCain is a tad bit pissed off.  About damn time.  So who on his side of the isle is going to have the guts.  Lets see how long it is before he and orange shit stain have a smack down.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/17/john-mccain-just-systematically-dismantled-donald-trumps-entire-worldview/?utm_term=.b38c4c2623c3

 

[Childless]

4 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Looks like Senator  McCain is a tad bit pissed off.  About damn time.  So who on his side of the isle is going to have the guts.  Lets see how long it is before he and orange shit stain have a smack down.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/17/john-mccain-just-systematically-dismantled-donald-trumps-entire-worldview/?utm_term=.b38c4c2623c3

 

I wouldn't hold my breath.  McCain has no backbone whatsoever.

[candygirl200413]

Plus he voted for him, even after he came at his character. I would need someone else in GOP who has a legitimate backbone to support in their retaliation against Trump but I don't think it will happen.

[infooverload]

Collins seems to have a backbone. She voted against Devos and I want to say she said no to another train wreck appointment recently.

[RoseWilder]

12 hours ago, Childless said:

I wouldn't hold my breath.  McCain has no backbone whatsoever.

McCain is all about backbone posturing. He pretends to stand up to the Republicans, gets all the credit for being a true patriot who has integrity, and then he quietly caves and does whatever the other Republicans are doing. 

6 hours ago, infooverload said:

Collins seems to have a backbone. She voted against Devos and I want to say she said no to another train wreck appointment recently.

She said she was voting against Pruitt. 

[RoseWilder]

I already posted this in the What now thread, but I think it bears repeating. There's a Senate seat up for grabs in Georgia. Here's a link if anyone wants to donate to Jon Ossoff's compaign: 

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/electjon

[fraurosena]

So I guess one of my earlier theories about the repubs just might be true:

(for some reason I can't embed this tweet, so I took a screen shot; I hope it's not too big)

[GreyhoundFan]

Sigh. "Ryancare: You Can Pay More for Less!"

Quote

...

In a half-baked policy paper released on Thursday, the House speaker, Paul Ryan, trotted out washed-up ideas for “improving” the country’s health care system that would do anything but. For example, the paper calls for reducing spending on Medicaid, which now provides insurance to more than 74 million poor, disabled and older people. Many millions of them would be cast out of the program. The Republican plan would also force most people who don’t get their health insurance through an employer to pay more by slashing subsidies that the A.C.A., or Obamacare, now provides. The proposal would allow families to sock away more money in health savings accounts, which may sound good at first but would primarily benefit affluent people who can afford to save more.

The paper is Mr. Ryan’s blueprint for effectively repealing and replacing Obamacare. Unsurprisingly, he and his colleagues offered no estimates of how many people would lose coverage or how much premiums and deductibles would rise for middle-class and poor families. Yet those missing details did not stop the Trump administration’s top health official from embracing the proposal. Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services and a former Ryan lieutenant in the House, said the president “is all in on this.”

To understand how far out of the mainstream the House Republican plan is, consider its ideas for Medicaid. It would roll back the A.C.A. provisions that helped more than 11 million people gain Medicaid coverage. Republican governors like John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan have praised the expansion because it has helped reduce uncompensated care at hospitals and provided addiction treatment to people suffering from the opioid epidemic. “Thank God we expanded Medicaid, because that Medicaid money is helping to rehab people,” Mr. Kasich said last month.

...

Another pillar of the Republican proposal scraps the income-based Obamacare subsidies that help families buy affordable insurance. Instead, Mr. Ryan wants to offer a flat subsidy that would be the same whether families earn $500,000 or $50,000. Residents of Minnesota would get the same support as residents of Alaska, where premiums on average are three times as high. The subsidies would vary by age to give older people more support, but the Republicans have not said how much more.

...

Congress is in recess this week. If people can reach their representatives and senators — many lawmakers have cowardly canceled town halls to avoid angry constituents — they can send a strong message that Americanswant legislation that improves health care and makes it more affordable for everyone, not the opposite.

As I've said hundreds of times, I despise Paul Ryan. He's such a weasel. He couldn't care less about the people of the U.S.

[candygirl200413]

@GreyhoundFan thank you for this article!! Both my parents are still just like saying "they can't just let people live without health insurance without a replacement!" and I'm forever saying that they could give two shits about the poor people and this is more evidence since they have no types of facts to back this up with how it's so much better.

My one senator, Pat Toomey just basically tells us how much he hates his constitutes (re: democrats) and last weekend decided friday morning to have a tele-townhall like 2 hours later which was just a dig to all of us demanding an actual town hall. It just exhausts me and frustrates me how he is just doesn't want to actually represent many of us (again re: democrats). UGH.

 

[fraurosena]

What a good idea!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/law-proposed-kentucky-restrict-access-viagra-married-men-permission-from-wives-abortion-mary-lou-a7589026.html

Quote

A US politician has proposed a law that would require men to get permission from their wives before they could be prescribed Viagra from their doctor as a pointed statement to anti-abortion lawmakers.

The legislation would require men in the state of Kentucky to visit a doctor twice before they could be prescribed any drug for erectile dysfunction. They would also have to be married and to get a signed and dated letter of consent from their spouse.

The bill, drawn up by a female Democrat member of the House of Representatives, Mary Lou Marzian, also calls for the man to “make a sworn statement with his hand on the bible that he will only use a prescription for a drug for erectile dysfunction when having sexual relations with his current spouse.”

Ms Marzian said: “My point is to illustrate how intrusive and ridiculous it is for elected officials to be inserting themselves into private and personal medical decisions.”

Such a great way to resist! 

[GreyhoundFan]

9 hours ago, candygirl200413 said:

@GreyhoundFan thank you for this article!! Both my parents are still just like saying "they can't just let people live without health insurance without a replacement!" and I'm forever saying that they could give two shits about the poor people and this is more evidence since they have no types of facts to back this up with how it's so much better.

My one senator, Pat Toomey just basically tells us how much he hates his constitutes (re: democrats) and last weekend decided friday morning to have a tele-townhall like 2 hours later which was just a dig to all of us demanding an actual town hall. It just exhausts me and frustrates me how he is just doesn't want to actually represent many of us (again re: democrats). UGH.

 

You're welcome. So many of the Repubs are being shitty about their constituents. One Rep from Va (thankfully not my rep) whined that women are "up in <his> grill" about not having town hall meetings. He circumvented it by going to ARIZONA for a town hall there. What a cowardly asshole. I hope that voters from the districts of these jerks realize they are not being represented and vote them out of office.

 

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

What a good idea!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/law-proposed-kentucky-restrict-access-viagra-married-men-permission-from-wives-abortion-mary-lou-a7589026.html

Such a great way to resist! 

YES! What a great idea! I have always despised Viagra because it has stayed on the market, even though it's killed so many people and it's so unfair to women. Back in the 1990s, when it came out, I was on Phen-Fen to lose weight. That was a miracle combination that allowed me to lose 120 pounds and feel normal for the first time ever. Then it was taken off the market because some people who took it started having heart valve issues. Viagra stayed on the market, even though it was killing a lot of men. All because the decision makers were older men, who value having a boner more than anything. If their wife (or girlfriend) gained weight, so what, they could trade her in for a thinner, and probably younger, model. I have hated Viagra since then. My doctor actually testified before a Congressional panel to try and get Phen-Fen re-approved. She asked for my permission to use my case as one of the case studies. Of course, it didn't help. But that's okay, those men in Congress can still get a boner. Oh, and when it was on the market, the Phen-Fen was not covered by insurance, so I had to pay out of pocket; Viagra was (and still is) covered by my insurance. Yeah, that's fair.

Sorry, I'll hop off my soapbox for now...

[sawasdee]

13 hours ago, candygirl200413 said:

@GreyhoundFan

My one senator, Pat Toomey just basically tells us how much he hates his constitutes (re: democrats) and last weekend decided friday morning to have a tele-townhall like 2 hours later which was just a dig to all of us demanding an actual town hall. It just exhausts me and frustrates me how he is just doesn't want to actually represent many of us (again re: democrats). UGH.

 

This astounds me. When I lived in the UK, every Member of Parliament had 'constituency surgery', where any constituent could come to air grievances, lobby for local issues, make their feelings known on national ones, and even ask for help with personal issues with national or local government.. These surgeries were usually every two weeks, but at least once a month.

I don't know if this is still the case - maybe the British MPs have become as blase and entitled as US Representatives(!) and Senators - can a UK based FJer enlighten me?

ETA In the UK, a doctor's office is called a surgery. Hence the terminology!

ETA 2 The MPs also have an allowance to pay for their surgery, and usually one member of staff to run it.

I really do want to know if this has changed - @Lurky, @Gobsmacked @samurai_sarah @moodygirl86 - the Brit residents who spring to mind - can you tell me if the political culture has changed to the degree that surgeries are no more?

 

[formergothardite]

11 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

This astounds me. When I lived in the UK, every Member of Parliament had 'constituency surgery', where any constituent could come to air grievances, lobby for local issues, make their feelings known on national ones, and even ask for help with personal issues with national or local government.. These surgeries were usually every two weeks, but at least once a month.

Until this year, I really didn't realize that Senators could just up and avoid all their constituents if they felt like it. I figured there had to be some law that said they had to hold meetings, but apparently there isn't. 

Thom Tillis' Facebook page is amusing because every single thing he posts turns into hundreds of "Why won't you meet with us" comments. He is trying his best to pretend like he wants both parties to work together, but it is rather hard to do that when he won't even listen to his constituents who aren't republican. 

ETA: he posted something about a bipartisan legislation to provide jobs to veterans and these are some of the responses:

Quote

That's great. When are you going to hold a town hall and speak WITH (not AT) your constituents?

 

Quote

Hi Senator Tillis, I'm sorry if our requests for a Town Hall hurt your feelings. Thank you for supporting job creation for our veterans! 

 

Quote

Thank you for this. And when is your next town hall scheduled? We would love to talk with you about a lot of other topics.

 

[samurai_sarah]

3 hours ago, sawasdee said:

This astounds me. When I lived in the UK, every Member of Parliament had 'constituency surgery', where any constituent could come to air grievances, lobby for local issues, make their feelings known on national ones, and even ask for help with personal issues with national or local government.. These surgeries were usually every two weeks, but at least once a month.

I don't know if this is still the case - maybe the British MPs have become as blase and entitled as US Representatives(!) and Senators - can a UK based FJer enlighten me?

(snip)

My MP still does surgeries, although they are called "advice sessions". Some by appointment only, some free for all. He also occasionally does advice sessions in shopping centres on Sundays. So, overall, he's pretty easy to get a personal hold of.