Discussion: Senate Finance OKs Bipartisan Bill For CHIP, 4 Days After Fed Funding Lapsed

That measure is more contentious, with some Democrats
 unhappy with Medicaid savings Republicans have
        proposed to help pay for the extension.

I hope they don’t forget to grab a little more to pile on top of the 700 Billion for the Military …

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Republicans don’t really give a shit about children born or unborn unless they are their own.

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Oh they care about the unborn…

What are the prospects of this bill or some final version in the House?

Dems better not allow one iota of hostage taking. They must RESIST any bullshit hostage taking on any other programs. Nothing short of a clean bill is acceptable. If they don’t pass a clean bill for CHIP, that falls entirely on this GOP-led Congress and their lack of due diligence.

The chamber takes a recess next week and the House takes one the following week, ensuring no final congressional action until at least late October.

Insane. Has anyone seen the remainder of their schedule for the year? Nice work if you can get it.

Looks like the Senate felt a need to take off for Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Not sure what excuse the House came up with. Hah.

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The House version won’t pass the Senate. Ryan will blink and approve it.
Ryan has to think through how the GOP backs away from the promises to their donors on the tax bill. That tax bill is not going to pass.

I hope Congress is still cognizant of not allowing Rump to make any recess appointments during this time as well. That would be a terrible oversight if they forgot to protect their prerogative.

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“We can’t waste time on children,” said Mitch McConnell. “We have a silencer bill to pass!”

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A few months ago now, the Daily Show did a segment showing the utter ridiculousness of the Republican budget wrangling. The DS was focused on arts funding at that time, but the visual aid they used is still relevant today. They displayed the US budget using cans of beans. They had a huge wall of cans representing the military and other major parts of the budget (perhaps around 100 cans or so). Then they sprinkled a few beans across the top for the NEA funding that was proposed to be cut. Medicaid is going to be larger than NEA funding, but it’s still a pittance compared to the rest of the budget that “can’t” be touched.

Republican budgeting is not even wrong. They don’t even try to make sensible arguments for priorities and they don’t really seem to understand monetary policy. It’s all straight quid pro quo without even the barest attempt to cover it up these days. And unfortunately for the sick and the poor (and kids), they just aren’t donating enough to Republican coffers to get any of that filthy lucre back in the government’s budget.

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So basically republicans want to kill really poor children and adults to pay for the insurance of lower-middle-class children. Uh-huh.

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When it comes to disruptive, destabilizing, ruinous tax cuts for corporations and the super wealthy, Republicans aren’t worried about deficits nowadays.

Mad Donald’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, a former deficit hawk, has had a come to Jesus moment, and recently blandly declared that in order to launch these massive tax cuts “we need to have new deficits.”

But as we’re learning, when it comes to the safety net and programs designed to protect the elderly, the working poor, the chronically ill, children, and other vulnerable citizens, the Republicans are still deficit virtucrats, full of pious mantras about “paying for” spending in one place by slashing it someplace else.

They are fairly itching to use the reauthorization of CHIP to hack away at Medicaid and (especially) Medicare.

Why?

Among other reasons, Charles Koch (the octogenarian billionaire, fossil fuel trust fund brat, and John Bircher who owns so very many Republican members of Congress) has been salivating to kill the safety net ever since he was a relatively young billionaire, fossil fuel trust fund brat, and John Bircher, all the way back in the Reagan era: and Republicans live to please the men who write the checks.

And they’ll get away with it, unless Democrats start fighting back instead of looking for “bipartisan” solutions in advance of the 2018 mid-terms, which ought to be good for Democrats, but which may end up being terrifyingly good for the forces of reaction.

Republicans have learned that they can win and hold power, even when they abuse it ruinously, simply by playing to racial malice and rage and fear. Democrats have learned nothing.

The GOP’s white base will vote to cut their own throats, so long as Republican operatives can persuade them that it is black folks who will feel the pain and do the bleeding.

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