Tag Archives: United States Congress

May 16, 2013 · 5:40 AM

Four Better Ways To Spend The $55 Million Wasted On Votes To Repeal The Affordable Care Act

The irony seems to escape the GOP and their sycophants  in Congress.  They’ve implemented “sequestration” to curb superfluous spending yet waste $55 million dollars on trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act thirty-seven times…

Think Progress

For the 37th time since 2011, House Republicans will hold a vote to repeal Obamacare on Thursday, bringing the total cost of all of their failed repeal votes to roughly $55 million in taxpayer money, according to one estimate.

Last year, CBS News calculated that the number of hours spent on 33 repeal votes — then roughly 80 hours, or two full work weeks — cost taxpayers an estimated $48 million. Since then, Republicans have held three more votes (another $4.5 million) and will add another $1.5 million with their latest.

At a time when lawmakers have implemented $85 billion in across-the-board cuts on top of$1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, no dollar can be spared. And the country has serious health-related needs that could use funding. Here are some better health care uses for the more than $50 million these symbolic votes against the Affordable Care Act have wasted:

1. Restore cuts from sequestration to Title X family planning programs and Title V maternal and child health services. The National Women’s Law Center calculates that a 5 percent cut to the budgets of each program will reduce them by $15 million and $32.5 million, respectively. Rather than voting to repeal a bill that expands women’s access to preventative services, the House could use the money to expand them.

2. Double the Department of Justice’s budget for sexual assault services, which has currently been authorized a $50 million budget. The program gives money to states so that they can support rape crisis centers and other nongovernmental organizations that provide direct intervention, core services, and other assistance to the victims of sexual assault. Current funding is inadequate, as some states receive less than $300,000 and many programs lack the resources to meet victims’ needs.

3. Grant a request for $50 million to train 5,000 new mental health professionals as part of a new initiative to expand mental health treatment and prevention services. This proposal came in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to address gaps in the mental health system.

4. Help states implement paid leave policies. President Obama included a $50 million State Paid Leave Fund in his 2011 budget to provide start-up support for states that want to enact paid leave for workers. More than 40 percent of workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, heading to work when they or their family members experience an illness, but this funding could help give them a better option.

The current Congress is on track to be the most unproductive since the 1940s, but still has time to hold votes that won’t result in actual legislative change. There are many other priorities lawmakers could focus on instead and better ways to spend taxpayer dollars.

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May 13, 2013 · 6:00 PM

Fifteen Differences Between Democrats And Republicans

According to…

Addicting Info

I’ve noticed over the years, there are some fundamental differences in the way Republican and Democratic politicians think. Here are just 15 examples.

Republicans fear that the government has too much control over corporations.

Democrats fear that corporations have too much control over our government. 

 

Democrats believe it benefits all of us to help the weakest and the poorest among us.

Republicans believe it benefits all of us to help the wealthiest and most powerful among us.

 

Democrats believe it benefits all of us to help the weakest and the poorest among us.

Republicans believe it benefits all of us to help the wealthiest and most powerful among us.

 

Republicans believe large corporations will always do what is best for the American people if the government stays out of the way. 

Democrats believe large corporations would disembowel you and sell your organs to the highest bidder if the government didn’t stop them.

 

Democrats believe everyone is entitled to health care regardless of their ability to pay.

Republicans believe everyone is entitled to jack squat if they can’t pay for health care.

 

Democrats believe too much of our money goes to crooked corporate executives who take government subsidies and pay themselves $80 million salaries. 

Republicansbelieve too much of our money goes to teachers who make $30,000 a year.

 

Democrats believe anything that helps the American people during a recession or a time of crisis is the true essence of patriotism.

Republicans believe anything that helps the American people during a recession or a time of crisis is the true essence of communism.

 

Democrats believe that we need to set high standards for clean air and drinking water.

Republicans believe that standards for clean air and water are burdensome over-regulation.

 

Democrats believe the President and Congress need to work together to create jobs during a weak economy.

Republicans believe that Congress should do nothing to create jobs and then blame the President.

 

Democrats believe that corporate polluters should be made to pay for the cleanup of their pollution.

Republicans believe that making corporations clean up their pollution is burdensome over-regulation.

 

Democrats believe our health care system exists solely for the purpose of making people healthy.

Republicans believe our health care system exists solely for the purpose of making a healthy profit.

 

Democrats believe Congress should be of the people, by the people and for the people.

Republicans believe corporations are the people.

 

Democrats believe that corporations have too much influence over Congress due to their lobbyists and huge campaign contributions.

Republicans believe the middle class has too much influence over Congress due to their voting and paying taxes.

 

Democrats believe we need to protect victims of corporate negligence by allowing Americans to file lawsuits against corporations.

Republicans believe we need to protect large corporations from lawsuits by Americans who’ve been victimized by them.

 

Democrats believe that the rich should be taxed more than the poor and middle class.

Republicans believe that the rich should be allowed to keep all their wealth, except for the millions in campaign contributions they give to politicians.

 

Democrats believe that too much money in politics produces corruption and destroys the American way of life.

Republicans believe that money and corruption in politics arethe American way of life.

 

These are just my observations from a lifetime of watching Democratic and Republican politicians. I’m sure some Republican will come up with their own clever list.

 

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May 8, 2013 · 1:08 PM

John Boehner Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot, and Insults The Troops In Spectacular Fashion

I think we need to look at John Boehner as an inanimate Howdy Doody type puppet and his puppet masters are the Tea Party in Congress.  Not that Boehner was ever an astute majority leader anyway…but the new crop of 2012 Tea Partiers have him on strict lock-down.  Anything John Boehner says is not his own thought.

PoliticusUSA

John Boehner opened mouth and inserted foot in a spectacular fashion when he told Bloomberg that paying back China was a higher priority than paying the troops.

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May 6, 2013 · 6:09 PM

How to Weaken a President

I agree with David Firestone’s assessment below.  Among other things, Republicans are trying to destroy Obama’s legacy as he envisioned it…

The Root

In the New York Times, David Firestone argues that by trying to weaken President Barack Obama by blocking his proposals, Republicans are also insulting American voters.

Republicans are clearly looking to do more than just deprive Mr. Obama of victories, however. The ultimate goal is to make him appear powerless and weak, a flailing figure who is unable to affect the midterm elections or give the next Democratic nominee a boost. Taking heat on a gun vote is worth it if it leads to a reporter asking the president whether he still has any “juice” left with Congress, as one did yesterday. And it leads to an even bigger payoff if the president stumbles in his response, forced to assert that rumors of his demise are premature.

The president is representing the vast majority of the American people when he advocates for stronger gun laws, or immigration reform, or a budget that includes tax hikes for the rich and greater spending on national priorities. When Republicans try to make him look bad by resisting all these things, he’s not the only one who’s being insulted.

Read David Firestone‘s entire blog entry at the New York Times.

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May 3, 2013 · 7:38 PM

Continuing The “President Obama Has Lost His ‘Juice’ With Congress” Meme… Rachel Nails It

Rachel Maddow’s take…

The Maddow Blog - The Green Lantern Theory

Clearly, the phenomenon needs a name. There are so many Beltway pundits blaming President Obama for Republican intransigence so often — for reasons that vary from strange to stupid — that there must be a label to describe this runaway meme.

Greg Sargent has been using a name that makes a lot of sense:  the Green Lantern Theory of Presidential Power.  (I’ve always been more or a Marvel guy than a D.C. guy, but never mind.) Even if you’ve never heard of Green Lantern, it’s easy enough to understand the concept: Beltway pundits seem to think the president has supernatural “leadership” powers that he can use to bend Congress to his will. Party, ideology, policy, elections, history, legislative procedures — none of this matters under the Green Lantern Theory of Presidential Power. The pundits believe Obama has this magical ability, and if Congress is failing to enact the White House’s agenda, it’s necessarily proof that the president is failing to use his mystical powers effectively.

As the argument goes, President Obama is the Man In Charge — of the executive branch, of Congress, of the legislative process, of all federal policymaking — and if he’s not getting his way, well, he’s the one wearing the supernatural ring, so it’s only fair to blame him.

Why does anyone in professional political commentary believe this child-like Green Lantern Theory? I honestly have no idea, but the number of pundits fully embracing the bizarre idea appears to be growing.

Peggy Noonan, today:

“[I]f you’re a leader you can lead right past it.”

Maureen Dowd, Wednesday:

“Actually, it is [Obama's] job to get [congressional Republicans] to behave. The job of the former community organizer and self-styled uniter is to somehow get this dunderheaded Congress, which is mind-bendingly awful, to do the stuff he wants them to do. It’s called leadership.”

Ron Fournier, Wednesday:

“Great presidents rise above circumstance…. Obama needs a coach to look him in the eyes and say, ‘Mr. President, I’m not excusing the other team. They suck. But you need to beat them, sir. That’s your job.’”

Dana Milbank, Tuesday:

“Obama is correct about the dysfunction, and the difficulty of passing even uncontroversial bills. But his stance was frustratingly passive, as if what happens in Congress is out of his hands. It’s the president’s job to lead, and to bang heads if necessary.”

This is really only a small sampling, and it only reflects the pundits who’ve been making the argument in print. Many more have been pushing the same Green Lantern Theory in broadcast media, too.

I don’t imagine I’ll persuade those who believe the Green Lantern Theory to change course, but I hope they’ll keep a few simple observations in mind.

1. Be specific. Media professionals who use their platforms to give the president advice — “lead right past it,” “bang heads,” “somehow get Congress to do stuff” — should be prepared to fill in the gaps. “Lead more” is not an example of serious, mature commentary on public affairs. “Here’s what the president should do to get his agenda implemented….” is more constructive. Those who believe there’s more Obama can do should actually say what more Obama can do.

2. Be mindful of history. Obama has tried schmoozing. He’s tried embracing Republican ideas. He’s tried bringing Republicans onto his cabinet. He’s tried pushing ideas that his base hates. He’s tried meeting Republicans more than half-way. Republicans don’t seem to give a damn and continue to refuse to compromise. With that in mind, constructive commentary won’t blame him for failing to try to get something done.

3. Recognize how different the status quo is. Those who believe there are two mainstream political parties that should be able to find some common ground on the major issues of the day are mistaken. Congressional Republicans are quantifiably radical, and the abandonment of congressional norms and procedures have reached a level unseen in American history. To argue, “Other presidents seem to have been more effective in working with rivals” is to overlook the fact that there is no modern American precedent for what’s become of the Republican Party.

4. Acknowledge the burden of proof. When Fournier was asked on MSNBC yesterday what the president should do to “lead” that he isn’t already doing, he said, “Let me turn that question back on you.” No. Wrong. The burden is on those who believe the Green Lantern Theory to justify its power, not those of us who believe in Civics 101 to prove them wrong.

5. Appreciate how happy you’re making Republicans. GOP policymakers are ignoring popular will, abusing the rules, undermining public institutions and the economy, and refusing to compromise, govern, or even act like responsible grown-ups. Pundits know this, and proceed to blame Obama anyway. They should probably pause one of these days to realize that they’re doing Republicans an enormous favor — what incentive do Republicans have to be responsible if they know the president they hate will be blamed by the political media establishment for their own intransigence?

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April 26, 2013 · 2:19 PM

12 Programs Congress Refuses To Save From Automatic Spending Cuts

This list puts Congress’ apathy toward the American people into perspective…

Think Progress

After thousands of flight delays across the country this week, the United States Senate voted Thursday night to give the Federal Aviation Administration the flexibility to keep the nation’s airports running smoothly. The delays were caused by the furlough of air traffic controllers, who were rotating off the job because of sequestration’s automatic budget cuts that began taking effect on March 1. The Senate legislation, which passed the House today and will be signed by President Obama, will allow the FAA to shift the burden of its cuts around, removing the need for controller furloughs and the delays that come with them.

That means lawmakers will be able to fly home for recess this weekend without any delays — and tourists and people who travel for business won’t have to experience the delays either. Unfortunately, though, Congress has shown no willingness to provide similar relief for the families that are being hammered by sequestration in other ways. Here are 12 programs that have experienced devastating cuts because Congress insists on cutting spending when it doesn’t need to — and that have been ignored by the same lawmakers who leaped to action as soon as their trips home were going to take a little longer:

1. Long-term unemployment: There are 4.7 million Americans who have been unemployed for longer than six months, but sequestration cut federal long-term unemployment insurance checks by up to 10.7 percent, costing recipients as much as $450 over the rest of the year. Those cuts compound the cuts eightstates have made to their unemployment programs, and 11 states are considering dropping the federal program altogether because of sequestration — even though the long-term unemployed are finding it nearly impossible to return to work.

2. Head Start: Low-income children across the country have been kicked out of Head Start education programs because of the 5-percent cuts mandated by sequestration, as states have cut bus transportation services and started conducting lotteries to determine which kids would no longer have access to the program, even though the preschool program has been proven to havesubstantial benefits for low-income children. In all, about 70,000 children will lose access to Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

3. Cancer treatment: Budget cuts have forced doctors and cancer clinics to deny chemotherapy treatments to thousands of cancer patients thanks to a 2 percent cut to Medicare. One clinic in New York has refused to see more than 5,000 of its Medicare patients, and many cancer patients have had to travel to other states to receive their treatments, an option that obviously isn’t available to lower-income people. Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) proposed restoring the funding, but the legislation so far hasn’t moved in Congress.

4. Health research: The National Institutes of Health lost $1.6 billion thanks to sequestration, jeopardizing important health research into AIDS, cancer, and other diseases. That won’t just impact research and the people who do it, though. It will also hurt the economy, costing the U.S. $860 billion in lost economic growth and at least 500,000 jobs. Budget cuts will also hamper research at colleges and universities.

5. Low-income housing: 140,000 low-income families — primarily seniors with disabilities and families with children — will lose rental assistance thanks to sequestration’s budget cuts. Even worse, the cuts could likely make rent and housing more expensive for those families, as agencies raise costs to offset the pain of budget cuts, and sequestration will also cut from programs that aid the homeless and fund the construction of low-income housing.

6. Student aid: Sequestration is already raising fees on Direct student loans, increasing costs for students who are already buried in debt. The budget cuts reduce funding for federal work study grants by $49 million and for educational opportunity grants by $37 million, and the total cuts will cost 70,000 college students access to grants they depend on.

7. Meals On Wheels: Local Meals on Wheels programs, which help low-income and disabled seniors access food, have faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts, costing tens of thousands of seniors access to the program. Many of those seniors have little access to food without the program, but Congress has made no effort to replace the funding.

8. Women, Infant, and Children programs: WIC helps 9 million low-income women and children with nutrition and health care referrals. Among these women, the program has led to healthier births, a higher intake of important nutrients, and a strong connection to preventative services. Sequestration means that the program would have to cut off about 600,000 participants.

9. Heating assistance: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps nearly 9 million households afford their heating and cooling bills. Sequestration will cut the program by an estimated $180 million, meaning about 400,000 households will no longer receive aid. These cuts come on top of$1.6 billion in reductions since 2010.

10. Workplace safety: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has long suffered from a lack of funds, which means its staff is so stretched that many workplaces go without an inspection for 99 years. The fertilizer plant that exploded in West, Texas, for example, hadn’t had a visit from OSHA since 1985. That will get worse, as sequestration will cut the agency’s budget by $564.8 million, likely leading to 1,200 fewer workplace inspections.

11. Obamacare: Sequestration cuts a number of important programs in the Affordable Care Act: $13 million from the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program, or CO-OPs; $57 million from the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control program; $51 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund; $27 million from the State Grants and Demonstrations program; and $44 million from the Affordable Insurance Exchange Grants program, or the insurance exchanges.

12. Child care: Child care costs can exceed rent payments or college tuition and waiting lists for getting assistance are already long. Yet sequestration will reduce funds even further, meaning that 30,000 children will lose subsidies for care. For example, Arizona will experience a $3 million cut to funding that will force 1,000 out of care.

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· 10:32 AM

SENATE: SORRY, POOR PEOPLE!

Senate fixes the (part of the) sequestration (that affects rich people)!

Washington is not just broken, it needs an exorcist!

Salon

Just in time for members to fly home, Congress averts the one cut it cares about. Hint: Not Head Start!

After a month or so of the sequestration budget cuts only affecting people Congress doesn’t really care about, the cuts hit home this week when mandatory FAA furloughs caused lengthy flight delays cross the country. Suddenly, sequestration was hurting regular Americans, instead of irregular (poor) ones! Some naive observers thought this would force Congress to finally roll back the purposefully damaging cuts that were by design never intended to actually go into effect. Those observers were.. sort of right! The U.S. Senate jumped into action last night and voted to… let the FAA transfer some money from the Transportation Department to pay air traffic controllers so that the sequestration can continue without inconveniencing members of Congress, most of whom will be flying home to their districts today. The system works! (For rich people, like I’ve been saying.)

The Washington Post says, “The Senate took the first step toward circumventing sequestration Thursday night” though in fact what they did was work to ensure that the sequester continues not affecting elites, who fly regularly. I am embarrassed that I did not predict this exact outcome in my column Tuesday morning. The Senate, which can’t confirm a judge without months of delay and a constitutional crisis, passed this particular bill in about two minutes, with unanimous consent. The hope is that the House can get it taken care of today, I guess in time for everyone to fly to Aspen or wherever people whom Congress listens to fly to on Fridays.

After that Congress will be done fixing all the various problems with the design and implementation of the sequestration:

But House action on a broader deal to undo the across-the-board cuts appears remote. House conservatives say much of the impact has been exaggerated by the White House, and they have relished the success of forcing visible spending cuts on a Democratic administration.

“I think it’s the first time we’ve saved money in Washington, D.C.,” said Representative Raúl Labrador, Republican of Idaho. “I think we need to move on from the subject.”

Move on, people who may become homeless! We fixed the airports, what more do you want?

There was a big to-do yesterday about a Politico story insisting — explosively! morning-winningly! — that Congress was trying to exempt itself from Obamacare. Because this is Politico, the story was based on equal parts misunderstanding of policy and desire to create a fuss. The actual story is that Republicans proposed forcing members of Congress and their staffs to only use healthcare plans created by Obamacare or available in the exchanges. Democrats passed the amendment, as a sort of fuck you. But the exchanges are designed for people who don’t have employers who pay for healthcare. Congressional staffers get employer-sponsored health benefits. The exchanges are explicitly not designed for employees of large employers who pay for healthcare, so some people are right now trying to figure out how to make sure staffers continue to get healthcare. It may end up not being a big deal, or it may require a tweak to the law. But it’s not a scandal. (Honestly it’s all a pretty good argument for ditching employer-based healthcare in favor of universal single-payer but then again everything is.)

But the fuss was already created. The story will live forever, and no amount of debunking in the world will kill the popular myth that Congress attempted to secretly “exempt” itself from Obamacare. So self-serving!

Their staffers are generally the poorest people members of Congress know, and trying to make sure their healthcare is paid for is seriously the closest our legislature gets to altruism. But while the story of Congress working to make sure its staffers don’t have to shoulder the entirety of their premium costs because of Republican political stuntmanship was treated as a scandal and an example of everything rotten about Congress, the story of Congress hurriedly making sure the well-off minority of Americans who fly regularly don’t get briefly inconvenienced — while ignoring the costs of brutal cuts on programs for low-income Americans facing housing or hunger crises — is treated as a wonderful and encouraging display of bipartisanship.

Have a great flight home, senators!

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March 28, 2013 · 9:15 PM

Men With Loaded Rifles Intimidate Moms Gathered At Gun Safety Rally

Bullies…

Think Progress

Several men with assault rifles and hand guns crashed a Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns National Day to Demand Action event in Indianapolis, Indiana on Thursday and stood silently as the state chapter of Moms Demand Action held a rally in favor of limiting the availability of military style weapons and universal background checks.

At least two or three men showed up at the rally site before the event began and engaged in a discussion about gun regulations with the group, two participants in the action told ThinkProgress. The armed men — who were later joined by another man carrying a hand gun and a woman who runs Indiana Moms Against Gun Control — insisted that they had a right to carry the loaded weapons:

Watch local news coverage of the event:

A member of Moms Demand Action said that she felt unsettled by their presence and said that the organizers would have to think twice before holding another event, particularly one where children could be present.

Members of Moms Demand Action also attended an event at the White House today, during which President Obama called on Congress to pass sensible gun regulations and urged the nation to remember the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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March 8, 2013 · 1:51 PM

West Wing Week: 03/08/13 or “Jedi Mind-Meld”

The White House

This week, the President urged Congress to resolve harmful budget cuts and reduce the deficit in a way that helps grow the economy and strengthen the middle class, held his first Cabinet meeting of the second term, announced three key Cabinet nominations, and signed the Violence Against Women Act.

Friday, March 1st

  • The President answered questions from White House reporters about his plans to move the country forward in light of the harmful automatic budget cuts — known as the sequester — that threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs, and cut vital services, that are taking place because Republicans in Congress refuse to close loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and the well-connected.

Monday, March 4th

  • The President announced his nominees to lead the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Office of Management and Budget.
  • The President convened the 17th meeting with his Cabinet- the first of his second term, to discuss how each agency would address the sequester and its impact on American families.

Tuesday, March 5th

  • The President spent some time with the staff of the Office of Management and Budget, reflecting on the importance of the work they’re doing in light of the sequester.

Thursday, March 7th

  • The President and Vice President traveled to the Department of the Interior for the signing of the Violence Against Women Act, which continues to strengthen the criminal justice system’s response to crimes against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking.
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February 13, 2013 · 8:10 AM

Obama Delivers One of the Best Speeches of His Presidency: a Tour de Force SOTU

obama-sotu-2013-5

obama-sotu-2013-5

I must say, I absolutely agree with the author of the following article, Jason Easley…

PoliticusUSA

The Obama vision for America was laid out in sweeping fashion. President Obama delivered what might be the greatest State of the Union address from a president in at least 25 years.

Why was Obama’s address so good? It laid out a real vision for the future.

The president took on broad issues like climate change,”The good news is, we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy. Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. We’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year – so let’s drive costs down even further. As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.”

Obama laid out the goal of slashing our energy waste in homes and business by 50% over the next 20 years, “I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.”

The president proposed a comprehensive infrastructure repair program that uses public and private capital, “I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.”

Continue reading…

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