What if anything is laudable about McCain?
His involvement in campaign finance reform I always saw as substantively a holding action to keep money in politics in a more moderated way, or optically a way to make it look like he was a changed man from the Keating scandal.
His resistance to birtherism is not a credit-earner as it should be a minimum for anyone civilized; his being slightly out of step with Trumpism is at best another example of the revolution eating its own.
There's a curve for being civilized in today's Republican Party. He ruined it for the rest of them.
And yet the OP has already missed terrible stuff in the USA. What about Trump treating the Boy Scouts to his nonsense? Or going back to distant times, his speech at the USS Ford?
It's impossible to keep up with all the appalling stuff.
2.1: Maybe his work on the Vietnam POW/MIA issue?
Mostly I dislike him, and have little respect for the various reporters that have fallen for his schtick.
The people McCain has run against in primaries have always been worse, sometimes much, much worse.
I'd bet he was on the front lines making things worse back in the 80s/90s.
What if anything is laudable about McCain?
He's shown some real personal decency/fortitude over the years. There's the story about Mo Udall that's making the rounds again, and of course there was the whole refusing early release from torture thing. On politics he seems to have been a pretty standard crappy Republican.
the whole refusing early release from torture thing
That's kind of a big deal.
Maybe his work on the Vietnam POW/MIA issue?
That was basically a demented conspiracy theory, though, wasn't it?
OTOH he did a lot for Vietnamese dissidents and their kids in the 1990s.
They could actually pass a healthcare bill that no one has seen. This is unreal.
It's the war of attrition!!! The senators all know that McConnell has more endurance for repealing Obamacare than everyday people have for making phone calls, and they know there will be vote after vote until they find some cover, and so if not today, it will be repealed soon.
That's kind of a big deal.
I was aiming for arch understatement.
10.2: He, together with John Kerry, worked to debunk the demented conspiracy theory.
Yeah, in the political realm, the Vietnam work is not nothing, I suppose. Still, let's remember in the 2000 primary when he refused to condemn the Confederate flag in SC, and later said "sorry, I didn't mean it but wanted to win the election"?
They are going to pass a bill. They were never not going to pass a bill. The importance of the phone calls and such isn't to stop them from passing a bill, but to make it clear to the people writing/calling/etc that their representatives were never going to listen to them and to never, ever vote Republican again.
The ranks of Nazidom and Stalinism were chock full of individuals who had shown remarkable courage and grit in wartime situations. McCain is only marginally OK politically in the deeply situational ethical world of national Republican politicians, and even there he has spectacularly failed major tests such as choice of VP. Also insane war-mongering.
make it clear to the people writing/calling/etc that their representatives were never going to listen to them and to never, ever vote Republican again.
How big is the intersection of these groups?
(Also: my English teacher friend used the word "intersectionalism' and we discovered that I picture a Venn Diagram and he pictures a physical traffic intersection. Both have their merits.)
Make America Politically Engaged Again.
I don't understand set theory, but the threat of being primaries for not voting for something that counts as "repeal" is stronger than the threat of being voted out in the general. The repeal will hurt people from the start, but the parts that hurt Republican voters are down the road enough that it doesn't matter.
"being primaried"
I blame the typo on the fact that "primaried" isn't actually a word.
Gosh it's too bad about all the gerrymandering.
Can't gerrymander Senate seats and it is still a problem.
Disproportional representation, I should have said.
"Disproportional representation" I said,
To no one there.
And no one heard at all.
Not even the Chair.
but the parts that hurt Republican voters are down the road enough that it doesn't matter
Yep. And McConell has apparently even used a stronger version of this to try to woo "moderates"--the worst things will never actually be implemented.
Actually Ocare had some of that as well; some of which backfired when the first real premium corrections for insurance miscalculation only came in 2016 for 2017 plans. (Another one of those micro-events that helped trigger to the Great Undoing.)
26- Don't worry, evil always has a solution, there's a not insignificant push to return Senate seats to appointment by state legislatures, which are of course grossly gerrrymandered.
I don't understand the model of a senator who won't vote for a health care bill while he's currently receiving a flood of calls opposing it, but is willing to vote for it as soon as the flood ceases. It's not like the calls are physically stopping him from voting for the bill. They matter to him because they're a signal of how his constituents feel.
The model also doesn't make sense because most of the senators who went on the record as having blocked the last vote did so because it was shitty enough. The Republicans started shouting at moderates for the same reason people with diarrhea shit.
It makes sense if you think of politicians as being small children. If we don't remind Robbie that it's not nice to take away people's healthcare, then he's liable to forget and listen to little Mitchy, when he tells him its a great idea.
Lucy football redux happening now in your local world's greatest deliberative body.
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As predicted by pessimists, all wavering Senators but 2 (Collins, Murkowski) have flipped on motion to proceed. Waiting for McCain, Johnson (latter theoretically a waverer but shrug emoji).
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So what is the bill? Is it out yet?
I'm not sure. I think technically it may be the House bill....bu tit will probably morph dramatically.
McCain just walked onto the Senate floor to a standing ovation. Fucker voted 'aye.'
2Rs left: McCain and Johnson. Johnson in a long discussion with McConnell.
"You promised the leather seats, goddammit!"
36: Apparently it's a "skinny" repeal that just repeals the mandates and the medical device tax.
42: yes. pretty sure that is where Senate wants to get to, but not sure that is what they actually voted on to proceed with (which can be changed). And HFC is already making noises about unacceptability of anything that doe snot start dismantling Medicaid more broadly.
The motion to proceed was on the House bill.
And the motion appears to have a tie vote.
Shockingly, Pence breaks tie by casting vote to proceed.
Rance! Why can't you show up for less awful things??
Great. I wonder if the vice president if a man willing to give careful consideration to all sides?
Ah, there it is. I was waiting for that.
And now McCain giving a speech on his renewed faith in Senate protocol. Wants to return to "regular order" .. *after* his vote. There will be reporters and pundits who "fall" for this.
Regular order = Democrats in the majority.
McCain's speech the puke cherry on top of the shit sundae.
Glad I turned the tv off once Pence took the mic.
So was it a full 30 minutes between when the bill was revealed and when they effectively killed health care for twenty million Americans?
SURELY WHEN THE CBO SCORE COMES OUT.
This was a procedural vote to allow formal debate on the legislation (that, after that legislation is passed, will certainly strip health care from millions).
I haven't followed closely enough to know if this is just a pipe dream or not, but hopefully, there's enough stupid amendments that will now be added that 3+ repubs will vote no on the actual bill.
51: Good encapsulation of his career. Fuck the chicken, then give a stern lecture on the importance of chicken consent.
Wait, so I don't understand what happened. They just passed the House bill? They passed a different bill? They didn't pass any bill, but just a motion to proceed?
Motion to proceed. Basis was House bill, but not locked in
The plan is apparently to use the amendment process to turn the bill into some kind of compromise, but it's super ridiculous because nobody except McConnell knows what that version will look like.
Then most likely House would concur, but maybe HFC kicks up a fuss and they use conference committee to get less transparent, if that's possible.
They passed a motion to proceed to debate on the House bill. Now they'll debate it for a while, then they'll vote on a bunch of amendments to replace it. (No one seems to expect them to vote on the actual House bill itself.) None of the alternatives that has been proposed so far currently has enough votes to pass, so they're going to try to put one together, possibly based on the "skinny repeal" concept unveiled today, that can get enough votes to pass in the expectation that it'll then go to a conference committee with the House, which will write the actual bill.
So basically the vote just now was 50 Senators opening their mouths and closing their eyes.
51; There will be reporters and pundits who "fall" for this.
Robert Costa: "This was the roar of a lion"
Jon Karl: some bullshit.
Vox has a good summary of the state of play right now.
My grandfather was always on me to develop a historian's perspective. I think this is a good example: https://theintercept.com/2017/07/22/donald-trump-and-the-coming-fall-of-american-empire/
67: They used to also stick a carrot up their asses, but had to stop because women were elected.
Ah, I wasn't actually reading the news and got ahead of myself.
They could in theory pass the House bill with no amendments and it would then go straight to Grandpa Simpson (no, not McCain, the neuodegeneration patient in the WH). The only thing stopping that is moderates who claim they want amendments or they'll oppose it, but if all amendments fail that's what goes to final vote. So far I haven't actually heard any amendments that everyone agrees will pass- Cruz, Paul, any moderate backed ones. Since the moderates always cave I wouldn't be surprised if that happens- Dems oppose all R amendments, not enough R agree to any of theirs and block all D amendments, you're left with the House bill as the final. The current bill of sale is that they'll pass some totally unworkable bullshit ("skinny repeal") that will then get hammered out to a final plan in committee, but it would be typical McConnell to work everyone and end up voting on something that goes straight to Trump.
Ok, drunk, but still, based on the title of the post, maybe we should also acknowledge this story? After everyone (=me) assumed that the Polish far-right ruling party PiS was going to go ahead with dismantling the supreme court, the massive protests actually had enough of an impact that the president has announced that he'll veto? That's kind of a big deal!
Off topic but I'm being tortured by work so seeking momentary distraction I looked at 11d which i hadn't done in a long while and wow was the comment section always so horrific? Moby and lb, are you serving some kind of community service sentence over there?
So far I haven't actually heard any amendments that everyone agrees will pass
Latest rumor -- and that's all it is -- is that so-called "skinny repeal" has a chance. Repeal just the individual and employer mandates, as well as ACA taxes on things like medical devices (but not, I gather, taxes on the wealthy), and that's it.
It might not pass muster as a budget reconciliation bill, which under Senate rules can't increase the deficit. They apparently just want to get something through in order to toss it back to the House and come forward with some new compromise thing yet again.
77: Yeah, it appears skinny repeal is a stalking horse - it cedes all detail and initiative to the House version in conference (which they said the Senate would improve!).
BCRA amendment failed with 9 Republicans voting no. ORRA amendment vote is tomorrow.
I refuse to learn all of these WMFTFLOOWBFH.
BCRA = Better Care Reconciliation Act = Senate's version of "repeal and replace"
ORRA = Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act = Senate's version of "repeal and delay"; essentially the same as what they passed in 2015
McCain voted yes on BCRA amendment. Because of respect for process.
79: Read Andy Slavitt. The voteorama is a stage show by design, the votes between MTP and the last one not matter in much; what matters is the deals that lead to an amendment providing a final form at the last minute, very possibly at 5am Friday or something like that.
Also I'm not 100% sure of this but I think the latest vote being chattered about was not even symbolically rejecting BCRA, it was rejecting BCRA plus Cruz, which is a highly different proposition.
79: Read Andy Slavitt. The voteorama is a stage show by design, the votes between MTP and the last one not matter in much; what matters is the deals that lead to an amendment providing a final form at the last minute, very possibly at 5am Friday or something like that.
Also I'm not 100% sure of this but I think the latest vote being chattered about was not even symbolically rejecting BCRA, it was rejecting BCRA plus Cruz, which is a highly different proposition.
If you could be 100% sure about what was voted on, it means somebody wasn't doing their job.
There's only one thing we need to know about Grandpa McMaverick Walnuts. And that is, like all his Rethug peers, when he country needed him to oppose Putinfluffer by caucusing with the Dems, he let his country down. When his country needed him to endorse Hillary Clinton, and oppose candidate Putinfluffer/Nazi/Fascist/White-Supremacist, he let his country down.
Our Republic is at risk, democracy is at risk, b/c Grandpa McMaverick Walnuts decided that whatever personal gain he's getting, by sticking with his party, is more important than our Republic.
It's even worse, b/c what he's let on, tells us that he knows how bad the case really is, regarding Putin's penetration. And yet, he still doesn't caucus with the Dems to start cleaning this up. Yeah yeah, all the Rs are just as bad. But that doesn't mean Walnuts isn't equally bad. And no amount of honorable service in the past, makes up for this, b/c the only thing on the other side of the balance, is some short-term personal gain. What gain, I cannot fathom, could be enough to throw over our Republic.
Benedict Arnold, if I remember, served heroically before turning traitor. He's not remembered for his heroism anymore. He's remembered as a traitor. So should McMaverick.
That Norquist quote about bipartisanship being like date rape doesn't just apply to bipartisanhip anymore.
83: Sure, the votes don't really matter, but they show that there still isn't much support for the previously proposed bills so if they want to actually pass something they need to come up with something new. If they wanted to actually pass one of these bills instead of whatever McConnell comes up with at the end they in theory could, but they won't.
And yeah, the vote tonight was BCRA plus both Cruz and Portman (adding $100 million for premium support or something), so it hasn't been scored by CBO and needed 60 votes to pass. The actual vote was to waive that requirement and allow it to pass with a simple majority; it failed 57-43.
(And I don't think this is technically the vote-a-rama yet; they're still working on the 20 hours of debate, during which they can offer some amendments. Vote-a-rama comes after the 20 hours are over.)
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The capsule looked very small and very fragile nestled within the alien ship's hangar space. Around it, huge inexplicable masses of machinery slid and unfolded with terrible precision. Flickering light streamed in through the capsule's tiny window.
Finally a voice spoke.
"OUR DISTANT MONITORING STATION HAS BEEN OBSERVING YOUR WORLD FOR MANY YEARS. OUR OVERT CONTACT WITH YOU WAS DELAYED, HOWEVER, BY OUR DISAGREEMENT OVER WHICH SPECIES ON YOUR PLANET WAS TRULY THE MOST ADVANCED. IN THE END, WE DECIDED TO WAIT UNTIL ONE ACHIEVED SPACE FLIGHT - TRULY THE BEST MARKER OF A TECHNOLOGICAL RACE. WE WELCOME YOU AND ALL YOUR KIND AS EQUAL MEMBERS OF OUR GALACTIC CIVILISATION."
Things are going to be very different for us from now on, thought Laika.
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Whoever posted 91, I like it and would like to sure scribe to your newsletter
That was me. On temporary childminding duty last night I was asked for a story involving a husky and a talking rock, set in space, and that was what I came up with.
Not too dissimilar to the plot of Hickman's The Manhattan Projects. That probably wouldn't be suitable for a child, though.
I think 75 was always part of the plan.
"Take us to your leader."
" Ah .. well, um yeah, funny you should ask ..."
Possible solution to global warming: Have a Trump impersonator call Rick Perry and tell him to dump coal.
Maybe we could get those guys who almost started a nuclear war that one time.
http://www.reuters.com/video/2008/12/07/hoax-call-row-after-mumbai-attacks?videoId=95068
97: I am pretty sure that this would be practically impossible, for sound cryptographic reasons. Any instruction that was simple, unambiguous and straightforward enough for Rick Perry to understand and obey would by definition be too simple, unambiguous and straightforward for Rick Perry to believe it had come from Trump in the first place.
Is there a Mike Pence impersonator?
If only we didn't ban analogies, there's a good one in this story. Rich Trump voters are the gulls, poor ones the seal pups' perineums.
Maybe it's allowable as a metaphor?
Does anyone else see BCRA and immediately think BRCA? They both cause a sort of cancer, so I guess the relation is apt.
It's like you don't even read the OPs.
Carreer trajectory for Trump's DOJ criminal division head Brian Benczkowski over the past 9 months has been interesting. Trump's transition team for DOJ until January then represented Russia's Alfa Bank including advising on their suit against Buzzfeed over the Steel Dossier until June when he was nominated. And he ain't no recusing cuck like Sessions;
After he found out about his potential nomination, why did he continue his representation of Alfa Bank?" Feinstein asked. She added that, because it was "clear" to her that Benczkowski had knowledge of issues related to the ongoing investigation, she asked him if he would commit to recusing himself from cases involving Alfa Bank and matters involving Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's election interference."He would not commit to recusing himself," Feinstein said. "I'm concerned with his refusal, especially given the position for which he has been nominated."And yes, the Alfa thing was overhyped yada, yada, yada, but fuck this shit.
101 Should have been attributed to Apo so I would have known better than to click on it.
89: I still protest calling it the "previously proposed bill," because the addition of the Cruz amendment makes it a very poor gauge of support, even symbolically, for BCRA without Cruz.
109: OK, but not sure I understand the point. Who cares about BCRA sans Cruz? Just another glob of poo that didn't stick on the wall at this point. Or am I missing something?
111: You're right, nobody cares, but it's still being continually glossed by many as "Senate voted against BCRA". It's not with the triumph that would accompany an actual final failure, but I suspect many people out there are confused, or assuming erroneously that the entire thing is a dead man walking, or (if more informed) that they're definitely going to pivot to ORRA or AHCA or skinny repeal.
Speaking of Rick Perry, here is a good (but long) update on DOE 6 months in after this kind of malarkey.
"We had tried desperately to prepare them," said Tarak Shah, chief of staff for the D.O.E.'s $6 billion basic-science program. "But that required them to show up. And bring qualified people. But they didn't. They didn't ask for even an introductory briefing. Like 'What do you do?' " The Obama people did what they could to preserve the institution's understanding of itself. "We were prepared for them to start wiping out documents," said Shah. "So we prepared a public Web site to transfer the stuff onto it--if needed."
The one concrete action the Trump administration took before Inauguration Day was to clear the D.O.E. building of anyone appointed by Obama. Even here it exhibited a bizarre ham-handedness. For instance, the Trump White House asked the D.O.E.'s inspector general to resign, along with the inspectors general of the other federal agencies, out of the mistaken belief that he was an Obama appointee. After members of Congress called to inform the Trump people that the inspectors general were permanent staff, so that they might remain immune to political influence, the Trump people re-installed him.Everything's fine...
My second "many people" is those reading the glosses.
In the vein of 114 , trump on Iran deal certification:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think they'll be noncompliant. I think they're taking advantage of this country. They've taken advantage of a president, named Barack Obama, who didn't know what the hell he was doing. And I do not expect that they will be compliant.
WSJ: Will you overrule your staff on that, if they come back with a recommendation -
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, sure. Sure. Look, I have a lot of respect for Rex and his people, good relationship. It's easier to say they comply. It's a lot easier. But it's the wrong thing. They don't comply. And so we'll see what happens. I mean, we'll talk about this subject in 90 days. But, yeah, I would be - I would be surprised if they were in compliance.
Trump's bluster on Iran won't be a problem, unless for some reason U.S. and Iranian military forces were operating in close proximity with imperfect information.
These kinds of posts are just a form of therapy for me at this point. The moral equivalent of putting your face in a pillow and screaming.
The slow but inevitable destruction of reliable reports and information from the government under this (and likely a Pence) administration is a strss point for me.
"Clean repeal" (aka ORRA or repeal-and-delay) has now also failed 45-55. Last one is skinny repeal, which the senators are now openly saying is a vehicle to do something different in conference.
Or I guess that's the last currently on the table, but very possibly planned to fail and be followed up with some rabbit-out-of-the-hat modified BCRA.
119: Interesting that Dems did not even bother to raise the point of order to force it to 60 (which I think they could have on Planned Parenthood). Knew it would not pass with 50.
Conference gives it back to the maniacs, right? Mitch McConnell to Paul Ryan: "We're not crazy, you're the ones that are crazy!"
All I wanted was a Pepsi to repeal Obamacare.
Conference gives it back to the maniacs, right?
Yes. Something new comes out the other end and it becomes "vote yes or you're out of the club."
Greetings from Amarillo, the helium capital of the world. What'd I miss?
According to a billboard I remember seeing some decades ago along I40, Amarillo was home to the world's largest manure pile. I didn't see that billboard the last few times I dove that road, so you may have missed it. Condolences.
It's probably still an impressive pile of manure even if somebody shat out a bigger one.
Even if they do not pass anything, the republicans may have already raised the death rate for next year.
Apparently the insurance companies are setting their 2018 rates now. They have to make assumptions about the health of their pool. So they have to price a certain probability that the individual mandate will not exist.
I hope they are pricing at in at something very close to 100%.
Ken Starr is sad, sad, sad. Won't somebody think of the people who think of the blow jobbery?
So. Scaramucci's financial info was apparently leaked. He tweets that since it is a crime he will be contacting the FBI, and then uses the hashtag #swamp immediately followed by Reince Preibus's twitter handle.
I don't have the words.
Forgot, then DOJ pits out statement refrencing Scaramucci and saying he's right too much leaking of classified info recently. Something like that...
The more hapless asshole they had before was starting to grow on me.
Ryan Lizza (generally reliable) tweets:
In case there's any ambiguity in his tweet I can confirm that Scaramucci wants the FBI to investigate Reince for leaking.
133: I've had good luck with Ciclopirox Olamine.
I'm not leaking. That's condensation from Spicer's fridge.
If this ever could achieve the dignified level of leadership illustrated in a Three Stooges sketch, this would be the part where Reince and Scaramucci fight over a hammer and hit Larry/Trump on the head.
So. Scaramucci's financial info was apparently leaked. He tweets that since it is a crime he will be contacting the FBI, and then uses the hashtag #swamp immediately followed by Reince Preibus's twitter handle.
Then it turns out the financial info wasn't actually leaked but made public as part of his required disclosures on accepting government employment, and he deletes the tweet.
This was a real pleasure to read: https://first-draft.com/2017/07/25/awkward-dinner-conversations/
Nice little big state you have there teo, be a shame if something happened to it.
Greetings from Amarillo, the helium capital of the world.
Is the Big Texas Steak Ranch still there? That's the only thing about Amarillo that I remember. And, if so, are you going to take their "Eat a ridiculously unhealthy amount of food in one sitting and your meal is free" challenge?
I just figured out 138 wasn't a joke. I thought teo was just branching off into deadpan.
Every so often I wonder what it's like at the Onion's writers meetings these days, trying to figure out how to differentiate themselves from the ordinary news.
I wonder what the lower-level White House staff is doing.
I was remembering that one reason I was convinced that Clinton would win is that the Trump team didn't look like they expected to win (and sometimes didn't look like they were even trying).
I was wrong about the outcome; I was wrong about how hard the Trump team was trying, but I still believe that they didn't expect to win, or think at all about what they would do if they won.
From Scaramucci's bizarre CNN thing this morning:
As you know, from the Italian expression, the fish stinks from the head down. But I can tell you two fish that don't stink, okay, and that's me and the president
So, yeah I think low-level White House staff are wondering how far down the fish they are.
That was just before he said he and Reince were like Cain and Abel (which from the context I think he meant something like "you know, everyone has some minor sibling rivalries...").
144: Quietly muttering to each other "Do you believe this shit?"
146 is truly beautiful use of language. Somebody should put that man in charge of communications.
In the meantime Senate Rs seem to be in the process of writing the Skinny repeal
Odds are that they are going to end up passing some massively fucked-up unworkable piece of crap that comes out of conference with no one taking credit for anything other than that they "repealed Obamacare." But then immediately pivot to over-the-top campaign to claim all the disruption is still Obamacare's fault ("Can't fix Rome in a day").
I have 2 and a half days left at this freaking job and a ton of annoying transition tasks to get done, and yet I am transfixed by the shear spectacle of it all.
Après moi le déluge of annoying bullshit that will be someone else's problem.
Odds are that they are going to end up passing some massively fucked-up unworkable piece of crap that comes out of conference with no one taking credit for anything other than that they "repealed Obamacare." But then immediately pivot to over-the-top campaign to claim all the disruption is still Obamacare's fault ("Can't fix Rome in a day").
That's the basic gist of the latest TPM article. The Senate will pass it claiming to want it "fixed" in conference. Then the House just passes the unfixed version. Then they all blame Obama.
At least if you don't have to work, you can buy canned good and guns before fleeing to the mountains.
I have this fantasy that a lot of the uninformed support for Trump will fall away if something big makes it very obvious he is uncomfortable firing people generally, and to their face specifically, contrary to his TV persona. It's pretty clear from treatment of Priebus, Spicer, Sessions, and pre-2017 stories. Unfortunately for that, when Comey was fired, it was just inside baseball news that it was performed via a letter sent when Comey was out of town such that he learned about it on TV.
I think the uniformed will fall away once it is clear that he can't actually make a deal with anybody who isn't a small-scale building contractor who has already done the job and seeking payment. I think he thinks that too, which is why he's putting all his effort into anything that will count as a "repeal".
I think uninformed support will fall away from him after another president has been in office for a few years and they can pretend that they never supported Trump to begin with, and/or he was doing a great job all along and Democrats were to blame for all the problems.
If uniformed support doesn't fall away before that, there won't be another president after him.
You're not expecting Don Jr. to be still around when his father's head finally explodes? Or, I guess, Ivanka more likely.
Won't be another president who is elected from a pool that includes Democrats.
Mike Rounds (R-SD) has apparently demanded a guarantee that, if the Senate passes skinny repeal, the House will not simply concur in it, but will either go to conference or add a delay. So "don't you dare pass what we pass!"
Mike Rounds: Just the tip, right?
91: since coming up with that one, I have also been asked to produce stories about "a talking capybara, a retired female boxer, an underground lair and a bag of apples" and "an armless chess Grand Master, an irritable talking fire hydrant, a hoberman sphere and a dental hospital". This could develop into an addiction.
After this piece, I expect tomorrow's article will be titled "If you eat a bunch of raisins, you poop more."
JFC, I was sure skinny repeal was a stalking horse, but now HFC is talking about holding their own conference to potentially concur. This would be a shitshow even if the past several months were normalized.
No worries, it's just the Fyre Festival being played out with the country's healthcare.
At least those people got a slice of cheese.
Fyre Festival spokesperson: "This is *not* the Greatest Shitshow of 2017, no, this is just a tribute to Greatest Shitshow of 2017."
163: JFC? Just for chuckles? HFC - House Freedom Caucus?
Anyway, Odds are that they are going to end up passing some massively fucked-up unworkable piece of crap that comes out of conference with no one taking credit for anything other than that they "repealed Obamacare."
I haven't been able to keep up: I'm assuming Susan Collins is still a "no." Murkowski is, what, potentially caving to threats regarding the well-being of her state? Fill me in: who's wavering, for that necessary third NO vote?
Aren't Rand Paul, Mike Lee, et al., still seriously against anything that doesn't undo the entirety of the ACA's horrid regulations, etc.? I mean, who's actually buying the promise that it will be made better later (for whatever definition of better you prefer)?
"Jesus F. Christ."
Potential noes still Capito, Heller depending on pressure. Or it all falls apart and many more break (Portman, Cassidy, etc.), but they'd be the first, probably.
Theoretically Rand/Lee are holding out for purity of principle, yes, but since these principles are so horrible I think nothing can be assumed of them.
Nobody thinks it will made better later, they're just saying that because they're desperate not to have to make decisions at this exact moment. It's a hot potato.
This is more a me-update than politics (plus I'm on drugs because my tonsils were removed this morning) but the one upside to a really rough two weeks of dealing with a mysterious lump in my breast (which after aspiration and biopsy is at last neither a mystery nor a lump and shouldn't cause me any further trouble) was that the timing was perfect for me to able to message my jerkass congresspeople a maximally sympathetic "I am a single mother to children with special needs adopted from foster care who recently lost my job of almost 15 years to outsourcing, currently waiting for results of a breast biopsy" intro to asking them to not destroy Medicaid and other insurance like they will anyway. But it helped me feel better for a moment!
168: Thanks. So Capito, Heller.
I *still* have not seen any updated remarks from the potential no votes in play. Fuck them all up a wad of shit (or whatever) if they cave.
168: Yes, but Portman says he is in.
"I will support legislation to move this process to a House-Senate conference because I believe we need to repeal and replace Obamacare."
House members being told that they may need to stick around a few more days....
The skinny is getting a little fatter. No conference straight House pass in the works.
Yep. Apparently they have gotten the assurance they're looking for that the House will not pass skinny repeal. Trouble is the senators don't know what they want to come out of conference, so they're basically asking to be bulldozed.
And House members are being advised to stay in DC over the weekend. To renege and pass skinny, perhaps? Or is the conference outcome extra-foreordained?
Someone is going to get totally double-crossed. My bet is "moderate" Senate Republicans. (Also US citizenry, but you know fuck those guys, how many divisions do they have anyway?)
CBO says that skinny repeal could/would increase the deficit by $142 billion. That means it doesn't pass the rules for reconciliation. Does the Senate parliamentarian listen to the CBO?
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-judges-attorneys-nominations-2017-7
I am about 3/4 expecting the reconciliation rules to be blatantly disregarded in service of passing something. (They won't say they're getting rid of the legislative filibuster, but that will be the impact - for Republican Senates at least.)
Remember, it doesn't set a precedent if it only happens once and in their favor.
See Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000).
179: I'm 50/50 on that, but yeah, that's what it comes down to.
It really is a wonder to me that the Byrd Rule is, AFAICT, the only norm they're still honoring. I mean, I guess the filibuster in general, but.
184 -- It's in the US Code: 2 USC 644. That might be the explanation.
It's called a rule but it's actually a law. The way they'd get around it wouldn't be to ignore it, but to overrule the parliamentarian's decision about what the budget effects are (typically CBO's estimate) and substitute in their own budget estimates from the Financial Management Offices of Trump & Trump Ltd.
Graham, McCain, and johnson have presser to say they will vote if assurance it will not become law as is....
Because that's what responsible legislators do -- vote for bills that they are committed to not becoming laws.
I'm honestly wondering, if they're on record that their goal is to force the issue to a conference committee (which is still punting, they have no idea what the committee should produce), why not do something much more clearly meaningless like reduce everyone's subsidy by one dollar?
Because you're more intelligent than they are and every person working for them.
If they try that tomorrow, we know they lurk here.
Maybe their placeholder has to satisfy the Byrd Rule too?
Murkowski is, what, potentially caving to threats regarding the well-being of her state?
She isn't going to cave in response to the threats. She might still cave for other reasons.
Or they could put in a trigger: if the House concurs in this bill, it shall become inoperative.
It doesn't appear that any senator, even Collins or Murkowski, has come out as a hard no on skinny repeal yet. Which isn't really surprising since they haven't yet revealed the bill text, but important to keep in mind.
Yeah, I'm thinking they probably do pass skinny repeal, planning to blame the House when/if it goes into effect. Enough of their constituents will be confused by who did what, and there will be all sorts of new developments in the Reality Show between now and whenever they're up for re-election, that most can reasonably consider it survivable.
What our fellas should be saying is 'if all you want to do is get a conference committee, let's adopt the Daines amendment.'
The Senate did pass the sanctions bill. 98-2.
That's not veto-proof the way Trump counts.
Just because they can override doesn't mean they will. (I recently learned that the California Lege pretty much never overrides vetoes, even though they can, purely as a norm.)
I think the norm in the Senate is different.
Not that prior norms are going to matter here.
Like, I'm guessing you'd have to go back pretty far to find a white house communications director who clarified on the record that he was not trying to suck his own cock.
The Ryan Lizza article about Scaramucci is something: http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon
3 hours - see the other thread.
Yes, I'm not surprised.
It's been a long day; I've been up since 6:00.
I would not be surprised to wake up in the morning and find both houses have passed a bill and sent it to Trump. They're going to use budget committee chairman's estimate instead of CBO to claim it passes Byrd. I thought they would at least have to take the time to write the legislative language but since they don't care what the bill actually does, just that they send something to Trump to sign, I guess they can scribble it in crayon or whatever.
OT: The State Department isn't too fucked up to issue passports quickly.
I'm so glad your lump is a non-issue, Thorn! And also glad that you were able to use it as leverage with Congresspeople.
I've been so stressed about the health care bill that I've starting grinding my teeth at night for the first time in 11 years. One of my daytime consolations is the idea that the impressionable 20-somethings working in Republican Congressional offices are having to listen to an avalanche of real-people stories.
Even if their bosses vote to destroy Obamacare, in the long run I suspect some of them will actually get radicalized. Some won't, of course, and will grow up to be the next Paul Ryan. But I've interacted enough of them to believe that some will.
211: Oh, it wasn't ACTUALLY any leverage because everyone who represents me is the absolute worst, but at least I felt I could say something spinnable rather than my usual FUUUUUUCK YOOOOUUUUUU, which I then don't send.
From what I'm reading, it's catastrophic for people on the exchanges - opens up state waivers that undermine preexisting conditions protections, though not as much as AHCA - plus the individual mandate repeal we knew about - but on the cold comfort side, it leaves Medicaid and Medicaid expansion entirely untouched, and repeals no taxes except medical device.
Did they stick an abortion funding ban in there?
I guess that's the Planned Parenthood defunding, written without mentioning "Planned Parenthood" and now that counts as "budget reconciliation"?
And the rest of the bad stuff could well come back via conference.
219: I thought they rewrote the PP stuff but it still failed Byrd, so unclear how they're planning to pass it with 50 without shenanigans of the sort discussed upthread.
I thought it repealed the Cadillac Tax. Heller introduced it.
It's 1-year "only." Does that change it? Just so sick of the lies about how PP gets "funded." They're a fucking provider.
And the rest of the bad stuff could well come back via conference.
This feels like the legislative equivalent of a high jump in which the jumper clears the bar without ever having their center of mass above the threshold.
223: That's a separate amendment that just passed. I'm not sure how it relates to the skinny repeal bill but I guess it will be added to it?
Having watched the video, it must be possible to make a political cartoon playing off the name, "Fosbury Flop."
There will be no conference. If this passes Senate tonight that's it.
It was never not going to pass. I'm just surprised to seem them kill the filibuster.
230: Definitely possible, even intended by leadership, but
nobody knows for sure. If they think they can get more tax cuts by steamrollering some product of conference over everyone, they might well.
Oh, and it cuts CDC and prevention/public health fund. "Because fuck you, that's why."
Is that to avoid raising the deficit?
233, 234: I think that makes the overall thing work under reconciliation on deficit.
I think that's why they mean by an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
I suppose, thinking it through, since it keeps the subsidies, blue states could shield themselves by passing their own replacement individual mandates. Possibly an influx of health refugees.
All of upstate New York is already going to move to Wisconsin for the jobs. I think that might improve both states.
I never watch Congress floor streams, but I am now, and it's excruciating. Enzi is running out the clock, free associating about infant mortality and diabetic pumps and Segways. Apparently earlier he refused to respond to questions about the bill from Democrats. A gigantic fuck-you to the notion of things mattering.
I am up and following on Twitter but could never bring myself to watch this.
Why am I doing this? Bodes ill for my coming months/years.
Have you tried a relaxing line of cocaine? White House staffers recommend it.
McCain say wait for the "show" when asked about his vote. Wait for it... McCain goes No and Murkowski goes Yes. (I don;t actually think this will happen...)
When they can't get meth and elephant tranquilizers.
This thing is so fucked up that if Arlen Specter's ghost doesn't appear and try to vote "no proven" on the Trumpcare vote, I'll be shocked.
I recognized a lot more of the Senators last time I watched a vote. That might have been 2005?
Delay is to .... crush our spirits even more completely?
Proceedings are stalled - seems to be some last minute whipping going on.
They don't have the votes. Now what?
To distract myself from this hellscape: I had my first tweet that blew up today. It seems good tactics are (a) gesture at political insanities in a way that allows everyone to fill in their own blank and (b) make a quarter-erudite intimation at impending revolution.
348, 249: Pence trying to use his smooth liar charm on McCain.
McCain briefly joined a cluster on the Dem side. I think I saw elation? Don't want to jinx it.
So Pence has left? And they're trying Murkowski? Bring her Ryan Zinke's head on a platter; might not work, but it couldn't hurt.
Pence couldn't lobby Collins and Murkowski because his wife was not there.
Unfortunately via 538 I discovered the exit polls betting market site.
Well, if the price of this turkey dying is McCain getting to spend the next three weeks talking about bipartisanship on every single Sunday news show, I figure that's well worth it. I don't watch them anyway.
OK, so now they're actually voting. Did they buy some votes?
Apparently Pence and McCain are off somewhere together.
Not a great sign. Apparently Pence off with McCain in another room...
OMG. I heard it too, McCain no. And Murkowski, Collins. Capito aye. Not sure I've heard Heller. Might be waiting to swing back.
Oh, there's Heller late with an aye.
I thought a few others like Heller might take the opportunity to go No as well.
Next step they caucus with Dems ....
Motion officially fails. I am cackling at McConnell as he now gives a sad speech.
One interesting moment: when McCain first said no, there was a start at a whoop from the Dem side of the floor which Schumer appeared to abruptly cut off with an arm motion.
Murkowski was never likely to vote yes on this; she's been squishy about earlier versions and doesn't actually like to buck the party if she can avoid it, but she's had nothing but bad things to say about this procedural bullshit, and I'm sure Trump's ham-handed attempt at intimidating her didn't help. McCain is a bigger surprise, but he was a conspicuous holdout throughout the day as more and more senators started to fall into line.
Next up: GOP campaign to repeal the admission of the last three states into the Union.
265: Nice catch. Went back and looked at it, and it definitely was an emphatic "cool it!" gesture. Whcih for the most part worked.
This was a pretty fucking unpredictable outcome. Good; not reassuring. And for all we know we'll go through it all again next week. But thanks again to teo and all those who pushed the worst senators. Now I'll go to sleep and await tomorrow's ragetweets.
So when daddy wakes up and turns on Fox and Friends, he tweets that McCain's a cuck and that he's cutting CSR subsidies immediately, right?
McConnell really sounds like he's dropping ACA repeal for now. What exactly is McCain's prognosis?
It's weird that McCain flew back for this. Just not making it back for the vote has the same effect. I guess he supports repeal, but genuinely doesn't trust Ryan? That'd make sense, but it's weird that he's the only one, I mean why would anyone trust Ryan?
272
I heard somewhere that there might have actually been something else relating the committee on armed forces (if that's what it's called) that McCain came back for, and this just happened to be going on at the same time.
I think the above explanation (which I probably could google but am not going to) is the most plausible one, but if McCain did come back for this, I see it as a giant fuck you to Trump/Ryan/McConnell. McCain came back to make sure it came up for a vote so that he might vote it down. This way it's definitely dead, whereas had it not gone to vote there's a chance it could have passed later, I suppose. He also gave cover to Capito and Heller to vote yes, possibly to protect them in their next elections, in sort of a protective move for "moderate" Republicans. McCain is still deeply disappointing in lots of ways, but I do think we misjudged him on this one.
I would also say there's a non zero chance this is payback for Trump's comment on how he preferred servicemen who weren't captured.
Heh, Krugman screwed by McCain and the tyranny of print deadlines.
274. To be fair, I think the bastard is owed that.
271. Unpredictable, because they were able to reach the tumour for surgery, which isn't common. Not good, though.
My husband said it was actually the NDAA that McCain came back to vote on. I suppose you could read him bringing BCRA up for a quick vote and tanking it as a way to get it over with and make sure he'd get to vote for NDAA.
Why didn't Pence try to talk to the tumor, cancer to cancer?
McCain just wanted one last moment of glory.
I take it all back, John! You're a true American hero!
It's also possible that Trump's (and the Mooch's) behavior this was bad enough to change his mind.
275: Say rather that Krugman shamed McCain into doing the right thing! (Why not? I'm beginning to believe that absolutely anything is possible.)
I'm amused that the Krugman column on the web got updated.
But can we take a moment to consider the awfulness of Senator John McCain? Awfulness somewhat, but only somewhat, redeemed by his last-minute vote.
The latter sentence was added, and this note appended:
This column has been updated to reflect news developments.
I felt bad about it being in poor taste. But I spent all yesterday not making a joke about whether the Ohio Department of Corrections or the Ohio State Fair was better at humanely killing people.
283: That's a good joke. Maybe Kasich will like it so much, he'll give you a free ride on the Fireball.
If I don't get to kill an Ohioan first, what's in it for me?