United States Congress

[RoseWilder]

I couldn't agree with Rep. Cummings more: 

Unfortunately, we're never going to get an investigation in congress about Nunes, so I hope the press starts digging around into his past. I'm really starting to suspect he's personally involved in the Trump-Russia scandal. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Good op-ed: "Rep. Nunes Is a Lapdog in a Watchdog Role". Best paragraph:

Quote

...

By speaking expansively about intelligence gathering, Mr. Nunes may have broken the law by disclosing classified information, however obliquely. The congressman, who has assailed leaks to the press, said his information came from unnamed “sources who thought that we should know it.” That’s rich.

...

 

[Cartmann99]

36 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

With much fear, I wonder how many insurance plans provided by companies will see this legislation and decide that they no longer need to cover these things either.

This is an excellent point. We've seen that many Americans think that because they get their health insurance policy through an employer, or through a family member's employer, that they can safely ignore anything to do with the ACA thinking that it doesn't apply to their situation. Sadly, it appears that many people are about to finally realize the benefits they gained through the passage of the ACA, only because they are on the brink of losing them.

[formergothardite]

6 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

If they really remove all those services from the healthcare bill, then what the fuck would we even need insurance for? What would it even be covering?

Does this mean that insurance plans could charge you extra for those things? Like in the past, the people I know who purchased their own health insurance had to add things like maternity coverage on as an extra. If they cut all those things then insurance will basically cover nothing. 

[Penny]

6 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

This is an excellent point. We've seen that many Americans think that because they get their health insurance policy through an employer, or through a family member's employer, that they can safely ignore anything to do with the ACA thinking that it doesn't apply to their situation. Sadly, it appears that many people are about to finally realize the benefits they gained through the passage of the ACA, only because they are on the brink of losing them.

My husband was able to get good affordable insurance after ACA. His company decided it was more cost effective to offer insurance than pay the penalty. He has multiple pre existing conditions, so it would be hard to get covered. We may have to start playing the lottery.

[RoseWilder]

Why the fuck is Devin Nunes even still on the committee, let alone making decisions for it: 

 

[RoseWilder]

Nunes is definitely hiding something: 

 

[clueliss]

Pat Roberts is very very sorry he said those things about mammograms 

Quote

Pat Roberts‏Verified account @SenPatRoberts

Following

More

I deeply regret my comments on a very important topic. Mammograms are essential to women's health & I never intended to indicate otherwise.

 

but he's still not interested in letting you have one covered under dipwadcare
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pat-roberts-mammograms_us_58d401a3e4b0b22b0d1acb99

[sawasdee]

1 hour ago, RoseWilder said:

Nunes is definitely hiding something: 

 

Bullshit! His duty is to the electorate, to ensure they have 'open and honest' government.

Oh, who am I kidding.....

[formergothardite]

Thom Tillis was made to squirm when asked about Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped him.  I really hate this guy. 

Some of his constituents put up a missing sign. 

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/missing-billboard-created-for-sen-thom-tillis/424789657

[onekidanddone]

The vote in house is set for 3:30 pm EDT.  I'm jumping out of my skin.  I keep refreshing the WoPo which is keeping track of the "No" and "Leaning No" 36 No  15 Leaning No...How do I explain the footprints on the walls and ceiling to MR. One Kid when he gets home.

UPDATE: It is 3:31 and I now officially ave OCD. I'm switching back and forth between my work lap top and my personal computer. FJ.. help me..

[RoseWilder]

I love Rep. Maxine Waters: 

 

[onekidanddone]

16 minutes ago, RoseWilder said:

I love Rep. Maxine Waters: 

 

Jamie Raskin and Keith Ellison are my Congressional husbands.  Maxine Waters is my Congressional wife.  Use to be Barbara Mikulski, but she retired.

[onekidanddone]

"We just pulled it" Donald J. Trump.  He means the health care bill, but other really icky images came to me. Images with Trump, Putin and Bannon doing the nasty

[AnywhereButHere]

11 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

"We just pulled it" Donald J. Trump.  He means the health care bill, but other really icky images came to me. Images with Trump, Putin and Bannon doing the nasty

So much for getting it done. Hopefully, this colors all other bad legislation they try to pass.

 

Oh, and thanks so much for the image of the circle jerk from hell that you've now put before my eyes!

[47of74]

25 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

"We just pulled it" Donald J. Trump.  He means the health care bill, but other really icky images came to me. Images with Trump, Putin and Bannon doing the nasty

Arrrrggggghhhhh!  My eyes!  The goggles do nothing!

Anyways I got a butthurt report form all ready to go for the Branch Trumpvidians since the bill has been pulled...

 

[onekidanddone]

17 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

So much for getting it done. Hopefully, this colors all other bad legislation they try to pass.

 

Oh, and thanks so much for the image of the circle jerk from hell that you've now put before my eyes!

Thanks folks, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip the waitress 

[fraurosena]

I'm so glad for you all. Thankfully, you get to keep the ACA for the forseeable future.

Here's a short(ish) interview MSNBC's Kate Snow had with WaPo reporter Robert Costa. The Toddler called him out of the blue to tell him the bill had been pulled:

http://www.msnbc.com/kate-snow/watch/report-trump-pulls-health-care-bill-from-congressional-vote-905874499947

 

[ADoyle90815]

My response to the Branch Trumpvidians:

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

Nunes is definitely hiding something: 

 

 

3 hours ago, clueliss said:

Pat Roberts is very very sorry he said those things about mammograms 

but he's still not interested in letting you have one covered under dipwadcare
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pat-roberts-mammograms_us_58d401a3e4b0b22b0d1acb99

I want someone to steal every pair of shoes these two guys own, and then make them both walk barefoot for five miles on a road strewn with Legos. 

[fraurosena]

There's a wonderfully scathing article on the Maddow.blog. 

First this choice remark:

Quote

After Trump was elected, many assumed it was a foregone conclusion that the ACA would be destroyed by the new, dominant Republican majority. But as it turned out, the only thing GOP policymakers agreed on was that they hated “Obamacare” – and they had absolutely no idea what to put in its place.

And then this bitingly sarcastic bit:

Quote

There’s no single explanation that captures why this fiasco ended this way, and a variety of factors contributed to this humiliating failure. Paul Ryan, for example, wrote a ridiculous piece of legislation behind closed doors, failed spectacularly to get any buy-in from stakeholders, couldn’t think of any substantive defenses, and had even more trouble leading his party’s factions.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, couldn’t be bothered to learn the basics of the debate, made no real effort to sell the plan’s purported merits to the public, and proved to be an abysmal deal-maker.

I recommend reading the whole thing.

[GreyhoundFan]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

I'm so glad for you all. Thankfully, you get to keep the ACA for the forseeable future.

Here's a short(ish) interview MSNBC's Kate Snow had with WaPo reporter Robert Costa. The Toddler called him out of the blue to tell him the bill had been pulled:

http://www.msnbc.com/kate-snow/watch/report-trump-pulls-health-care-bill-from-congressional-vote-905874499947

 

I read Robert Costa's article about the call. A couple of interesting points:

Quote

...

Before I could ask a question, Trump plunged into his explanation of the politics of deciding to call off a vote on a bill he had been touting.

The Democrats, he said, were to blame.

“We couldn’t get one Democratic vote, and we were a little bit shy, very little, but it was still a little bit shy, so we pulled it,” Trump said.

Trump said he would not put the bill on the floor in the coming weeks. Instead, he is willing to wait and watch the current law continue and, in his view, encounter problems. And he believes that Democrats will eventually want to work with him on some kind of legislative fix to Obamacare, although he did not say when that would be.

“As you know, I’ve been saying for years that the best thing is to let Obamacare explode and then go make a deal with the Democrats and have one unified deal. And they will come to us; we won’t have to come to them,” he said. “After Obamacare explodes.”

“The beauty,” Trump continued, “is that they own Obamacare. So when it explodes, they come to us, and we make one beautiful deal for the people.”

My question for the president: Are you really willing to wait to reengage on health care until the Democrats come and ask for your help?

Sure,” Trump said. “I never said I was going to repeal and replace in the first 61 days” — contradicting his own statements and that of his own adviser, Kellyanne Conway, who told CNN in November that the then-president-elect was contemplating convening a special session on Inauguration Day to begin the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Turning to an aide, Trump asked, “How many days is it now? Whatever.” He laughed.

Trump returned to the theme of blaming the Democrats.

“Hey, we could have done this,” he said. “But we couldn’t get one Democrat vote, not one. So that means they own Obamacare and when that explodes, they will come to us wanting to save whatever is left, and we’ll make a real deal.”

There was little evidence that either Trump or House Republicans made a serious effort to reach out to Democrats.

...

That must have hurt after all of his efforts, I said. He made calls, had people over to the White House, invited House members on Air Force One. He may not have loved the bill, but he embraced the push for passage.

“You’re right,” Trump said. “I’m a team player, but I’ve also said the best thing politically is to let Obamacare explode.”

...

As he waits for Democrats, I asked, what’s next on health care, if anything, policy-wise?

“Time will tell. Obamacare is in for some rough days. You understand that. It’s in for some rough, rough days,” Trump said.

“I’ll fix it as it explodes,” he said. “They’re going to come to ask for help. They’re going to have to. Here’s the good news: Health care is now totally the property of the Democrats.”

Speaking of premium increases, he continued: “When people get a 200 percent increase next year or a 100 percent or 70 percent, that’s their fault.”

...

Does Trump regret starting his agenda this year with health care?

“No, I don’t,” he said. “But in a way I’m glad I got it out of the way.”

“Look, I’m a team player,” Trump said of the Republican Party. “I’ve played this team. I’ve played with the team. And they just fell a little bit short, and it’s very hard when you need almost 100 percent of the votes and we have no votes, zero, from the Democrats, it’s unheard of.”

What happened with the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-line conservatives he had wooed over and over again?

“Ah, that’s the big question,” Trump said with a slight chuckle. “Don’t know. I have a good relationship with them but I couldn’t get them. They just wouldn’t do it.”

...

He went on, as ever, to the Democrats.

“They own it,” he said.

“You’ve said that,” I’ve told him.

“This is a process,” Trump concluded, “and it’s going to work out very well. I was a team player and I had an obligation to go along with this.”

As Trump tried to hang up the phone and get back to work, I asked him to reflect, if at all possible, on the lessons learned. He’s a few months into his presidency and he had to pull a bill that he had invested time and energy into passing.

What’s on his mind?

“Just another day,” Trump said, flatly. “Just another day in paradise, okay?”

He paused.

“Take care.”

Okay, show of hands, who here would ever use the term "team player" to describe Agent Orange? Yeah, I thought not.

And that last bolded statement, I think he's starting to understand that tantrums don't get him everything.

[JoyfulSel]

Ahh, funny how he claims Democrats will come to him and the Repubes "when" Obamacare explodes. What do you do when you have the worse hand? You bluff. Agent Orange and especially that smug Ryan took a big L today, as we millennials like to call it, and now he thinks blaming the ACA on Democrats will get them to suddenly want to work together. Not happening Orange Boy - take this loss and deal with it.

[Cartmann99]

44 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Sure,” Trump said. “I never said I was going to repeal and replace in the first 61 days” — contradicting his own statements and that of his own adviser, Kellyanne Conway, who told CNN in November that the then-president-elect was contemplating convening a special session on Inauguration Day to begin the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Oh look, the Yam is lying like a rug again. 

[RoseWilder]

6 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

I want someone to steal every pair of shoes these two guys own, and then make them both walk barefoot for five miles on a road strewn with Legos. 

And Barbie shoes. Can we add some Barbie shoes to the Lego-covered road?