Tea Party Cannibalism Is Hurting the GOP in the 2010 Election

Funny to see how much more concerned these elitists are about their establishment than they are about the future of the country. You have to get out of DC and meet some real Americans.

Lew of MA 12:28PM September 16, 2010

hit $750,000 in contributions...

Bill Hedges of MO 5:03AM September 16, 2010

Interesting what all Republicans did back when Democrats had a super majority in both houses.

Can't blame fellow Democrats can liberals.

Not a “irrefutable arguments”…

Bill Hedges of MO 9:10PM September 15, 2010

One excellent example of the many ways in which the GOP sabotages the Democratic Party agenda legislatively making reform impossible and unworkable is the following;

"The Senate will vote tomorrow, September 14, on an amendment from Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) to small business legislation that would repeal a provision of the health reform law designed to raise revenue by reducing noncompliance with the nation’s tax laws. While critics have raised legitimate concerns about some of the paperwork requirements related to that provision, policymakers can address those concerns by modifying the provision, rather than by repealing it outright and thereby allowing substantial tax avoidance to continue. Moreover, the Johanns amendment would offset the large revenue loss from repealing the tax compliance provision by eliminating critical funding for health prevention and by seriously weakening a key element of health reform, the requirement that individuals obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. An alternative amendment from Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), which the Senate will also consider on September 14, offers a far superior approach: significantly scaling back the tax provision to reduce its scope and its paperwork requirements, and making up for the lost revenue by reducing excessive tax subsidies and loopholes for oil companies, rather than by sharply cutting funding for preventive health efforts and weakening health reform."

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3264

One has to understand that not only will the Johanns Amendment cost the US federal government billions annually at a time when the tea party movement crows on about deficits, but that BOTH the Obama and Bush Administrations favored removing the payment exemptions by small businesses to vendors and large corporations as a way of preventing further leakages of federal revenues. Johanns' amendment would increase premiums and the number of uninsured. It is an attempt to indirectly destroy ACA by stealth. By lowering the income threshold for the affordability exemption from 8% to 5%, more people will be exempt and thus the risk pool will remain disproportionately skewed toward the sick making premiums more expensive and preventing the mandate from achieiving a more balanced risk pool to lower premiums. Even big insurance companies oppose this measure. Only the very rich pay less than 5% of their income on health insurance premiums and they are insured anyhow. The Johanns amendment essentially eliminates the mandate for all intents and purposes and along with it, its cost reduction function. When premiums rise, as they surely will with no regulation, the GOP and their tea party allies will readily blame ACA instead of GOP sabotage.

Of course, a robust public option would have been the way to achieve both near universal coverage AND low rates, but the GOP prevented this in order to damage the ACA reform's chance of success. The American People will pay the price as a result.

steve of IL 8:56PM September 15, 2010