The Senate meets today at 2pm, with debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (PPACA) starting at 3pm. The House meets tomorrow, and David Waldman tells us what they’ll be up to. After all, they’ve got to pass the time while the Senate gets all the attention doing health care.
Most of the whispers — and not a few shouts from the rooftops — indicate that there’s a strong interest in spending the time on jobs, jobs, jobs. Which means Democrats look for ways to stimulate job creation, and Republicans say they won’t work and oppose them, then hold press events in their districts accepting the money for those programs.
That seems about right. Meanwhile, there are many things to keep your eye on during the Senate debate. What’s not getting enough attention is that the Republicans are going to have a strategy for killing health reform. What will it be? How dilatory are they willing to be? What kind of poison amendments have they dreamed up? Is Harry Reid prepared, or has he been forced to spend all his energy worrying about his own caucus? We’ll begin to find out today.
It’s so nice to see that the white house website is leading with a video about health care, while all the teevee wants us to think about is War.
Oh boy, the prez is gonna talk about War tomorrow night, excitement is building!
I don’t think that priority is really misplaced, although it is frustrating. The speech on Afghanistan is definitely the most important thing happening this week, so advance press coverage is appropriate. I wish more focus was placed on our foreign policies as a general matter, so I can’t complain about it when it actually happens.
who cares?
really, who cares about this shitty bill outside of political obsessives?
We already know it’s a bad bill. we already know it forces people to buy insurance from the same damn companies that have been letting people die for profit. we know that “the public option” is about as withered and shriveled and useless as dick cheney’s heart.
it’s all about the appearance of doing something, and once the full details come out about what the democrats have done, it’s gonna be ugly. the only reason to watch is to mine the proceedings for attack ads.
i’d just as soon read the comics.
You sound like Karon Dawson.
no, i don’t.
Karon Dawson, like most republicans, is just looking for something to say no to. obama could personally promise her a new car for every day of the week and she’d find fault.
I actually want something to say yes to, but after all is said and done this bill sucks. You even say so yourself “A shitty bill passed, and it’s a miracle.” twice: “I knew I’d have big problems with the bill. I didn’t know I’d actually hate it this much. It’s a good thing the Democrats have Republicans to make them look good by comparison. They’ll have to milk that for all it’s worth, because the Democrats suck.” in these quotes, you’re talking about the House bill, but you know the senate bill is about as appetizing as a turd sandwiched between two slabs of moldy wonderbread.
Our reps are like the groom who gets his fiancee all worked up for a diamond ring, and then he not only shows up with something he made out of a rubber washer covered with aluminum foil, he acts like the disgruntled female should be grateful.
So no, I’m not like karon (who can’t be bothered to spell her name properly) because she wants the president to fail, where i won’t settle for less than a high quality health care reform package.
and since what we’re getting isn’t “a high quality health care reform package” I’m gonna call it what it is: a piece of shit.
the health care elements of the bill suck but the insurance reform elements are strong. I do hate this bill, but moreso I hate Congress. They are completely inept and elitist and corporate.
Harry Reid is going to keep the Senate in session on weekends during the health care bill’s consideration.
good news
Mitch McConnell opens his speech in the Senate by saying that we know the American people oppose the health care bill because all the opinion surveys say so. Not a good start for truthfulness.