The House Bill said 23 million would lose insurance under the House GOP plan to replace Obamacare. Now the Senate version has been scored and it is…. just as bad. The Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would increase the number of people without health insurance by 22 million by 2026, a figure that is only slightly lower than the 23 … Read More
All Hail ACHA 2.0
Well, after weeks of secrecy, the Senate version of Obamacare “Repeal and Rewhatever” (PDF) is here. Remember, the House version of the ACHA would result in 23 million people becoming uninsured, and even Trump called it “mean”. Is the Senate version any better? Not much: Here is how the Senate bill works: The Senate bill begins to phase out the Medicaid … Read More
GA-6 Fallout
Ossoff lost in the 6th District of Georgia last night. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Handel leads Ossoff 53 percent to 47 percent in a race that many expected to be much closer. Handel had 127,021 votes to the Democrat’s 114,390 ballots. And so now the Republicans are gloating… Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want … Read More
Georgia 6th On My Mind
Well today is the big day. Georgia-6th, a strong Republican district, might actually flip to Democratic in what many see as a referendum on Trump’s presidency. The truth is, whether Joel Ossoff wins today or loses, it is almost irrelevant. Polls show him barely ahead but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that a district which “split” on Trump and … Read More
Senate Republicans Getting Hit From All Over
This screenshot from Memeorandum gives a sense of the bind that Senate Republicans are in over their very long and VERY SECRET internal negotiating (by 13 white men) over their healthcare bill. House Republicans insist that their terrible mean bill (which knocks 23 million off of healthcare) doesn’t get altered too much, and Democrats — well, they just want to … Read More
The Sessions Sessions
Ok, I’ll liveblog SOME of Sessions hearing before the Senate Intel Committee, but again, I expect he’ll talk about what he wants to talk about and then filibuster (or rely on executive privilege) when trapped in a corner. 2:56 pm Sessions has no recollection of meeting, talking to Russian ambassador or other Russian official at the Mayflower hotel. Here’s a notable … Read More
The Trumpcare Fight
It was thought that Trumpcare, having passed the House, would die when it got to the grown-ups in the Senate. Nope. They’re trying to pass it. Or something. I can’t criticize the Senate version of Trumpcare. Because nobody knows what it is. We only know a few things. All reports say there will be no hearings on the text of … Read More
Sessions To Testify Before Senate Intelligence Committee
2:30 today. The thing to remember is that Sessions WANTED this testimony. So this is likely to his benefit. Or Trump’s. Sessions was once on the periphery of the Trump-Russia scandal. I mean, sure, he failed to disclose at his confirmation hearings that he met with the Russians twice during the campaign. But he fixed that as soon as the … Read More
Day 118. Hot Mess
1/ Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller to oversee the investigation of Russian interference in election. Mueller will take command of the prosecutors and FBI agents who are working on the far reaching Russia investigation. Trump said that he expects the probe will find no collusion between his 2016 White House campaign and foreign countries, calling the Russia … Read More
Abomination
The Plum Line, this morning: I won’t mince words. The health-care bill that the House of Representatives passed this afternoon, in an incredibly narrow 217-to-213 vote, is not just wrong, or misguided, or problematic or foolish. It is an abomination. If there has been a piece of legislation in our lifetimes that boiled over with as much malice and indifference … Read More
Crucial Vote on Healthcare Today
The ACHA, once thought dead, got revived yesterday. The big change? 8 billion for states that choose to create high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions. Of course, the fact that this 8 billion boondoggle (which goes to insurance companies) exists only highlights the lie that “no changes are being made with respect to pre-existing conditions”. And 8 billion, … Read More
Vote Your Ossoff
Voters in a suburban Atlanta congressional district will decide today whether Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff will win outright a special election for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, in a district the Republican Party has held since 1979. The closely watched contest has drawn national attention as the first political bellwether of the Trump era, after the district nearly … Read More
The Democratic Loss In Kansas That Was A Win
Yesterday saw the first special Congressional election since the November general election. The district was Kansas 4th. It is a very strongly Republican district, “ruby red” as they say. It last elected a Democrat in 1992 — and that Democrat an exception to its historical pattern. In November, Mike Pompeo (now CIA Director) won with 60% of the vote, as did … Read More
Gorsuch’s Plagiarism
Uh-oh: