wrote in message
...
On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:09:10 -0800, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:53:16 -0500, John H
wrote:

...because a few Dems showed their true colors. For enough money they
could be bought. Thankfully, Olympia Snowe showed a little bit of
integrity.

"Reid cut numerous last-minute deals to get the votes he needed and
powerful Democrats also inserted home-state provisions in a 383-page
package of amendments Reid filed this weekend to the 2,074-page bill.

Among other items, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus,
D-Mont., included a provision allowing residents of the town of Libby,
Mont., who are suffering asbestos-related illnesses from a mining
operation to get Medicare benefits. Nelson won a list of benefits for
Nebraska including a commitment for the federal government to pick up
the full tab of an expansion of Medicaid. And Sen. Christopher Dodd,
D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election, inserted a $100 million
item for construction of a university hospital that his spokesman said
he hopes to claim for the University of Connecticut."

And Nelson said he couldn't be bought. Right.

http://tinyurl.com/yl3wxz7

They didn't really pass anything. The vote last night just cut off the
debate. (it was simply a cloture vote)
It does show that the senate has the votes when the house finds
something they can agree to.

We have yet to see if house Democrats will go along with a bill that
has no public option and some other things they want.

This is certainly a budget buster bill, no matter what the house does.
I just wish my Nelson had the juice of the Nebraska one. Lee County
says Medicaid will be costing us another 1.2 million. I guess another
fire house will have to close.


Nope. According to the CBO it'll save about $120B in the first 10 years.

That all depends on which CBO study you are talking about and which
assumptions are true. They are planning on cuts to Medicare that will
never happen for starters. The other thing is ther feds are dumping
some of this cost off to states so it is not on the federal budget.

I am still not convinced any of this will actually make it to the
president's desk. They still have to talk the house into the bill the
senate came up with and the reality is the senate hasn't really passed
the bill themselves yet. The vote the other night was just to cut off
debate. All it will take is for one democrat to waver and we could be
right back at looking for 60 again.
That is the reason the republicans delayed the vote. The country will
get 3 days to actually read this bill and call their senators.
It will probably still get passed in the senate but the house has big
changes to accept from what they passed.


Yes, it depends on the final bill, but to claim that it'll increase costs is
nuts. It won't. Everyone relies on the CBO, yet the Republicans just ignore
it when it suits them. They're delaying it because they can't accept that
there's a need for action. They're obstructionists who don't give a damn
about the people they serve.

Certainly, the Democrats have their own problems, but that doesn't excuse
the Republicans behavior, which is despicable.

--
Nom=de=Plume