Let's Be Blunt

POSTED BY JHW22

What would you do if your boss said he was morally opposed to providing health care plans that cover pregnancy if you are in your second marriage because you were divorced from your first? And then you got pregnant with your new husband. Would you have to quit your job? Find a private policy to cover your health care? Scrape the money together? What if a female business owner thought prostate cancer was something she didn't want to cover in her company-provided plans? What would her male employees do? This Blunt amendment could mean YOU don't get health care coverage through your job. So, where ya gonna get it?

Sorry. Oops.

Rick Perry: "Those who are going to be over 21 on November 12th, I ask for your support."



Boy, that's a lot of "Constitutional Amendment" talk from someone who doesn't know what the 26th Amendment is. And that Election Day in 2012 is November 6th, not the 12th. At least he got the month right. Cream of the crop, these GOP nominees, huh?

Senate GOP Forces New House Vote

And there you have it. Senate Republicans were able to sneak in two provisions that change the reconciliation bill enough to have to send it back to the house for yet another vote. Luckily, it seems that it won't make much difference.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled that two minor provisions of the health care reconciliation bill violated the so-called Byrd rule, and must be stricken. That has altered the language of the legislation and will the House to vote on the package one more time.

One of the provisions is meant to prevent Pell grant reductions (the reconciliation bill also deals with student loan reform). The other strike came against obsolete language. Both changes are incidental to the overall package, though, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to have no problem passing the bill again with the same coalition of 220 members who passed it for the first time on Sunday.

House members have been told to stay in town for a reconciliation revote, in the event that the Senate adopts the bill with a few changes. The Senate adjourned after 2 this morning, without having taken a final vote. They'll reconvene this morning at 9:45 to resume consideration.

Of course all of this is really moot and for some reason, the GOP thinks delaying the inevitable seems like a smart tactic. Stopping work at 2pm? Forcing committees to reconvene at a later time midstream? Proposing ridiculous amendments like Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn's "No Viagra for Sex Offenders" in order to force Democrats into a tough vote.

If Coburn is so adamant about this, why doesn't he introduce it as a stand alone bill?  Let's see if he does after the GOP plan to derail the reconciliation vote fails.  Then we can all call him and ask why he hasn't followed up with his Viagra bill?

GOP Douchebaggery Backfire

These oh so smart GOP Senators really stuck their heads in their asses this time, and I don't mean that as a kinky call girl sex act for Vitter. Republican Senators David "Diaper Boy" Vitter and Tom "C Street Negotiator" Coburn concocted an evil little plan in which they'd kill the public option by offering an amendment to the health care bill requiring Congress to enroll in the public option if passed. MWWAHAHAHAHA! There's only one problem: it's a good fucking idea.

So good in fact, that Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wanted to co-sponsor the bill. But Vitter and Coburn wouldn't let him.

“They’ve not said yes to allow me to be a co-sponsor,” Brown told The Hill on Thursday. “I’ve called their office four times. I’m proud of the public option, I think it would be great and we ought to join it and show the country how good it is. I think my interest may be more genuine than theirs, but I’d like to work with them if they’ll let me. If they just want to score partisan points, I still want to work with them.”

If this was a serious attempt to make the bill better, why not allow co-sponsors? Because we all know this was a serious attempt, not at health care reform, but to shame health care reform proponents into backing away from the evil public option. It's a legislative poison pill. But instead of scaring away Democratic senators, they've been called on their bluff.

Okay, so Vitter and Coburn didn't want to allow Brown to co-sponsor. So what did he do instead?

Sen. Brown asked to be added as a co-sponsor to the Coburn/Vitter amendment by unanimous consent. The motion was approved.

Senators Mikulski, Dodd and Franken quickly followed suit.

Another GOP FAIL.

Rockefeller Public Option Amendment Fails

TPM: The final vote was 8-15 with 5 Democrats--Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Tom Carper (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT)--voting with all Republicans to kill the proposal.

Keep these fuckers in your mind and your wallet for anyone running against them in their respective primaries.

Update (5:15pm):

Schumer's Amendment Fails.

Bob Cesca: Why Baucus Is Full of Shit