Originally published at: Ten Hours In: Raucous Protests, Forced Removals And No Serious Discussion Of Republicans’ Proposed Cuts To Medicaid
The House Energy and Commerce Committee met Tuesday afternoon to begin discussing committee Republicans’ budget markup that will enact sweeping cuts to Medicaid as they try to slash $880 billion over 10 years to programs under their jurisdiction. While little of the proposed Medicaid slashing had been discussed 10 hours into the meeting, tensions were…
4 Likes
I think Democrats are right, someone will notice those cuts Republicans are going to enact.
That said, I am still waiting for normal political gravity to take hold. To clarity, I am sure it will, but it might take longer than we might expect, even at this point.
In the mean time, kudos to the protesters.
15 Likes
Great work Emine explaining a difficult in terms "regular non-news following folks can understand yet enough detail to satisfy the more wonky. 
13 Likes
It is frustrating to see how stupidly the tariff discussion has been handled by the news. For example, Brad DeLong has tried to look at costs over the entire value chain. Only then does the impact of Trump’s folly begin to kick in. Similarly, a healthy society requires many things, not just some medical interventions from time to time. It means healthy babies, longevity with few health issues, safe neighborhoods and good housing, clean air and water, no microplastics in your brain or testicles, nutrient-rich diets. Trump won’t even explain his own health issues. For example, why is he risking the use of a GLP-1 agonist like Ozempic when he doesn’t have diabetes? And what’s that thing on his nose? Or the hunched lumbering gait? Why not something like health for all at all ages with national health insurance for all? Of course you can cut national healthcare programs, but there needs to be some rational basis beyond making our 800 or so billionaires a bit richer.
17 Likes
All that effort to avoid town halls and people still found out about their plans.
Sad.
19 Likes
Since the work requirement seems to be waved about by many - myth that it is - I suspect that will be the first thing agreed to. Including by Dems.
From Center for American Prgress:
5 Facts About Medicaid Work Requirements
Medicaid work reporting requirements do not promote employment; they create red tape that takes health care away from eligible people, leaving them uninsured.
And this:
Millions of working Medicaid recpients will lose coverage due to reporting requirements. You need a computer or smartphone and wifi (don’t forget, TFG tanked the broadband for rural/underserved areas as being DEI). Or they are required to appear in person, in a not local office, and would have to take time off work to do so.
14 Likes
Just a follow up to this point:
In fact, I have both a suggestion and a prediction for major media organizations: I’d like to see them do focus groups with ordinary voters, describing these plans. My prediction, based on what we’ve seen in the past, is that many voters will simply refuse to believe the policy descriptions, insisting that elected officials can’t possibly be that vicious.
But they can be and are.
11 Likes
Some changes are cheap and save money, and voters like cheap and saving money. A good example is the inappropriate use of the blue LED. Shuji Nakamura could not have possibly anticipated the current abuse of his invention just 3 decades ago. In outdoor contexts, blue light not only blinds owls and other nighttime hunters, it screws up the diurnal rhythms of insects. It is a boon to rat populations, a killer of trees and cause of road traffic accidents at night. They confuse our eyes. There are even rules about proper outdoor lighting. I’m not saying 2000K all the way, but less is more. We’d all sleep better, live longer and pay less with this simple change.
5 Likes
“…someone will notice those cuts Republicans are going to enact.”
Not if they depend on the corporate media.
8 Likes
Mehmet Oz (Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) was on Melber’s show on MSNBC last night (I caught a bit of it on Sirius XM on my way to a rehearsal), spouting nonsense about how anyone who isn’t willing to apply for a job to keep their Medicaid eligibility somehow isn’t worth providing health insurance. And Melber didn’t push back at all: it’s not a matter of simply ‘trying’ to get a job (whatever that might mean)–the proposals I’ve seen discussed require recipients to accept whatever job might be offered.
I hear shit like this, and I realize why I’ve not watched a news broadcast since November 5, 2024. I may never watch another news broadcast again.
12 Likes
Well, that assumes they consume any kind of news at all.
4 Likes
Fine. Their actions had zero effect, were not covered by the infotainment media, but they all felt good about themselves.
2 Likes
This has gone so far beyond making any kind of policy sense. There is no cost-benefit analysis and no utilitarian rhetoric anymore.
It is simply punishing the poor, and rewarding the rich. The Horatio Alger story has become our origin myth, and anyone who has not “Made It” deserves to die, be it by measles, dangerous factory conditions, or starvation. By contrast, no matter if you were born into wealth or swindled your way in, you are a member of the elect and deserve to live life on corporate welfare, pay no taxes, and profit off the dismantling of our once-communal resources.
The New Deal has been rescinded.
Welcome to the age of the Raw Deal.
14 Likes
The chickenshit GOP avoid town halls because they know how angry their constituents are with their nefarious plans to gut health care and the entire social safety net. They’ve seen plenty of news coverage of citizens yelling at their colleagues, and they’ll have none of that. Besides, a lot of them know they’ll get re-elected anyway, even if they never do anything to benefit their constituents, because next to their name on the ballot is an “R.”
4 Likes
While I am sure the moment is frustrating (I am) I am not sure what you would prefer though? Allow Republicans move forward without comment?
3 Likes
Until I read this, I had no idea of the protest that occurred, and I read too much news. I am so sick of the legacy media. We always figured nothing would appear on Fox News, now I guess we have to extend that same assumption to the New York Times.
3 Likes
That’s the spirit! How exactly do you measure if something has any effect on anything if you don’t try it in the first place? Also, these things have a cumulative effect.
It also makes you feel like you are doing something positive. None of these things count for you?
4 Likes
I don’t think it’s accurate to say their actions had zero effect. How can that even be measured prior to the voting? Humans notice when groups of other humans show up and protest their actions. In this case, the gop committee members know the protesters represent some portion of their own voters- the ones they’re avoiding by not holding town halls in their districts. News reporters covered the protest. The protests will not grow smaller as these thefts of public services continue. I’m an introvert. My civic action currently takes the form of writing/calling officials and talking with people. It takes a lot for me to join large groups of people in action, but I have friends who have already attended many protests this year, and as a result they feel empowered to speak out and psychologically strengthened by the numbers of people who join them. They are putting their bodies on the line because their instincts tell them it’s the right thing to do. Social challenges and battles require that multiple roles be filled in pursuit of the goal. I respect people who engage and use their strengths to defend democracy.
7 Likes
I have not watched any television news in at least 10 years—No news broadcasts, national or local news, Sunday talk shows—None of it.
I have missed nothing.
4 Likes
Someone piss on your cornflakes this morning?
I’ll put it another way—They were doing far more than you (or me, or a lot of other readers/posters here for that matter) did yesterday.
Bless your heart.
3 Likes